RWBY: We Were Soldiers
by Pagemaster0099
Summary: War...War never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. - Ulysses (Fallout: New Vegas) {Indefinite Hiatus}
1. Chapter 1

_**OCs accepted: name, gender, description, love interest (if any), alliance, weapons (optional). The events in this story take place after Vol. 3 of RWBY, so spoilers if you haven't finished it**_

 _Important News Report: After the events of the White Fang attacking the city of Vale & devastating most of Beacon, Atlas has been left without the proper defenses to keep the borders safe. But thanks to the brave souls of many volunteers the kingdom of Vale shall reform the militia and push the White Fang from our land! These men will use older military equipment due to a heavy reliance on Atlas that can still be used to cause hell for the White Fang terrorists (who we suspect have downgraded weapons due to Atlas pulling out). God speed, gentlemen!_

* * *

The sounds of distant battle lay in the far distance as the men wearing US Army Infantry apparel and mostly armed with weapons from the same era stood waiting around a large group of tents that formed their base in what used to be the town square of the city. The roads that lead to their position had been blocked off with large walls of whatever they could find to stack and fortify. Some walls had metal parts from cars and furniture while others had concrete from ruined buildings and various items that appeared as garbage. At each of these walls were Browning M1917 machine guns with men constantly making sure the large machine guns were loaded. The base was starting to run low on supplies from ammunition for their rifles to bandages for the wounded that were being treated in the safety of one of the ruined buildings that offered the most protection. The men who weren't wounded had scars and wounds of their own to deal with. Their uniforms were dirty, scorched from battle, as each man looked as if he'd been through the worst. The White Fang seemed to surround them from every side and cut down any force that tried to escape to get back to the rest of the Vale Militia. This also crushed the moral of the men now trapped in the town square as they began to think no help was coming for them.

"How ya holding up?" a soldier asked another, the young man sitting against a wall with his head buried in his knees.

"Huh? Oh yeah, just thinking to myself," the young man replied with a sigh as he removed the helmet from his head to wipe away the dirt and sweat from his forehead, revealing dark red hair and a scar over his left eyes. The young man was about 17 with a light tan complexion, green eyes, and about 6'1 with a slim but muscular build. The soldier laughed to himself as he left the young man alone to himself once again. The young man breathed deeply to himself as he grabbed his M1 Carbine and stood back to his feet, making his way towards one of the walls he was stationed at to held defend. He'd seen the worst of the combat taking place in the city and was thankful for every second he wasn't running towards enemy gunfire or dodging mortar fire from above. Black smoke seemed to share a permanent presence in the city as it blocked the view of the enemy and blacked out the sun.

"*PPPFFFTTTT* Don't try the coffee, Chris. Tastes like shit," one of the soldiers at the wall said as he spat out the coffee he drank from a small tin cup before tossing the cup over the wall, Chris laughing in response. It really wasn't fresh coffee anymore due to the shortage of supplies and was most likely a batch of coffee made days ago. They simply refilled a small portion of already brewed coffee and passed it around, already starting to mainly be hot water and less coffee.

"I stopped drinking coffee altogether when we started running low on it. No sense in drinking hot water unless I have to," Chris said as he checked his M1 Carbine for any damages that could affect the way it shot.

"Man, we've been out here for months now and we're no closer to pushing those furry sonsofbitches out of here!" a soldier yelled in protest as he slammed his helmet to the ground, instantly being met with a sniper round through the soldier's head. The remaining soldiers and Mason ducked down behind cover as they watched the body fall forward into a puddle of blood.

"SNIPER! 4TH FLOOR ACROSS FROM THE BOOKSTORE!" a soldier called out who had seen the light catch the sniper's scope when he fired.

"Chris, get out there with Carter and get that fucker," the commanding officer of the barricade ordered as he pointed to Chris and another soldier. Chris nodded his head as he loaded a magazine of ammo into his gun before climbing over the top of the wall with the other soldier, both men running to two alleyways across from one another. They stayed silent and used hand signals to one another to make sure the sniper couldn't hear them if they called out to one another. Carter, the other soldier sent with Chris, gestured for Chris to see if there was a way through the building he was hiding behind while he did the same. Chris nodded his head as the two began searching for entryways to the buildings they were using as cover. Chris found his entry via broken window over a dumpster, the young man wasting no time in climbing over the dumpster and through the window. With a crash he fell straight into an old bedroom that had been slightly ruined due to a long period of time with lack of care. It was a small one that seemed big enough for a baby to sleep in, and that's what it was. The cradle was what broke Chris's fall into the room.

"...That...sucked," Chris groaned to himself as he slowly stood from the broken remains of the cradle before bending down to pick up his rifle before he continued. It didn't take long to figure out where an exit to the building that lead to another alleyway that still kept him out of the sniper's sights. Chris could also see Carter going through the building across the street from him, meaning that they were still out of the sniper's sight. He took a deep breath before he took off across the street towards the building they spotted the sniper in while a loud gunshot echoed in the air around him. He jumped through the doorway of the building before ducking behind cover in case their was a guard watching out for the sniper. Luckily for him, there was no one on watch for the sniper and no one seemed to notice him running into the building from the lack of movement coming from the second floor. Chris slowly stood to his feet and began making his way towards the stairs that lead to the sniper's position. He made every step precise and carefully as to not give his presence away to the sniper still looking for the two soldiers.

"Carter? Caaarrrttteeerrrr?" Chris whispered as he held his position for a moment before continuing up the stairs. With every step he took he could feel his heartbeat increase with fear of the sniper waiting to ambush him as he walked upstairs. To his relief there was no sniper waiting for him at the stop of the stairway, meaning he made it undetected upstairs. He stood motionless once more to listen for any sound that would give the sniper's hiding place away to him due to the various rooms on the second floor of the building the two were in. He found the sniper's position when he heard the sound of a bolt-action rifle being cocked and readied to fire. Chris took a deep breath before he stepped back from the while and fired a few shots, Chris staying motionless until he heard what sounded like a body falling to the floor while a small stream of blood started to flow on the ground around Chris's boots.

"Got the sniper, sir," Chris said when he arrived back at his comrades' position, greeted by the group of men surrounding the medic.

"I thought he was shot in the head," Chris said as the commander turned to face him.

"That wasn't the guy the sniper killed first...Carter's dead, Chris," the commander said, Chris standing motionless at the news of the death. Normally this would make anyone sad and morn for the loss of a dear friend or comrade. But this wasn't the first time someone Chris knew was now heading home to be buried...

...and it certainly wouldn't be the last...

 **Okay, first off I know this isn't the original story but I figured this would be better.** **PM me or leave a review if you like where this story is going or the previous one.**

 **All OCs already sent will make appearances in either stories.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The name of the protagonist army- Vale Militia**

The rain lightly fell on the camp of soldiers as they stood in a massive line for the day's lunch rations, however small they may be. It didn't even look like normal food anymore and looked more like paste with food coloring in it to make it look 'appealing'. When the military had first set up the base in the town square, they anticipated only a few months before the White Fang would fall back. It had been almost a year since the day they arrived and almost 6 months since supply routes were cut off. Chris accepted the 'food' without a smile as he made his way over to a small group of men sitting around what used to be a fountain while they ate. But just as Chris was about to sit down to eat, a military officer came rushing to the men's position as he blew a whistle loudly. This signaled that the general of the base was coming out of the bunker they established for his personnel and himself to be unaffected by any attack or be overlooked if the White Fang every overran the soldiers in the base. Every soldier eating dropped their plates, grabbed their guns, and stood at attention as they waited for the general to arrive. But calling the man in charge of the men 'general' is an insult to _actual_ generals. To be completely honest about the man, he was only a general because of the money his family invested and how much respect his last name carried.

"General _Schnee_ , sir, the men are all here," his second in command said as he saluted the general as he spoke. The general wasn't as old as most of the generals in the army and was only about 25 years old. His hair was short but combed neatly and as white as snow itself while his uniform was always crisp and clean like he was going to a formal party. His skin was so pale that you could tell he'd never seen a battlefield or even a firefight in general. Along with his general's uniform he always carried around an officer's sabre that he flashed to either try, in a failed attempt, to impress the soldiers or make his invalid point to them.

"Now men, you've all fought well and given your all to take back this city for the kingdom of Vale. This is an admirable feat in which you shall all be awarded with medals for the hardships that you've all faced. But know this and know this well: tomorrow, the final charge is upon us! All men will report to the northern wall for the final assault and the gear will be distributed among you! You men will be heroes when you return to Vale when this fight is over! FOR VALE!" General Schnee yelled as he drew his officer's sabre and held it in the air, the soldier yelling their approval over the fact that it would all be over and they'd be leaving the godforsaken ruined city. But when the general left with his officers back to the bunker, the men began having second thoughts about this plan. When these thoughts began to occur, rumors were beginning to surface about tomorrows fight.

"I've done the math and I was in charge of inventory a couple days ago...there aren't enough guns for every man here. We have a gun for every 3 people in this base but plenty of ammunition for the guns, though," a soldier said among a group of soldiers that Chris was apart of.

"So wait, he's just gonna send men out there unarmed? We'll be running into a slaughter!" another soldier said, the men around him realizing that he spoke the truth. Chris simply shook his head at all the rumors as he turned and began walking away from all the paranoid groups of soldiers gathering in the town square. But his fears of the men being right were confirmed when he caught a glimpse of medics going amongst their patients to see who could still move and fight even if they were wounded. Tomorrow, there would be blood...

...and plenty of it, too.

* * *

The next morning brought an even darker mood to the militiamen than the months before as they stood in lines to get the gear they needed before the charge. One man was handed a single M1 Garand with a bayonet attached while the 2 other men behind the one with the rifle were given bullets along with M1 Bayonets of their own. If you were given bullets, you were ordered to stay behind the men with the rifles in case the man with the rifle was shot you could pick up the gun and continue. Chris, unfortunately, was amongst the men that received the bullets with the M1 Bayonet. When he received his gear, he was then directed to a group of men gathering at the north wall. The group of militiamen were divided into two separate groups: the first group consisting mainly of wounded men while the second consisted of the militiamen without ailments. Standing atop the low-lying wall, but still behind cover, was General Schnee with a few officers armed with PPSH-41s and a large Browning machine gun. He gestured for one of the wounded men in the first group to come grab the flag on the wooden pole he was holding in his hand before he prepared to speak.

""ALRIGHT MEN, LISTEN! THE FIRST GROUP OF MEN YOU SEE BEFORE YOU IS THE FIRST WAVE! WHEN THEY ARE OVER THE WALL, THE SECOND WAVE WILL FOLLOW BEHIND THEM! FOLLOW THE FLAG MEN AND IT WILL LEAD YOU TO VICTORY!" General Schnee said as he pointed out into the city streets that began to fill with the eerie fog that always filled the soldiers' hearts with fear.

Fear of the unknown.

One of the officers standing next to General Schnee pulled out a whistle while he readied his PPSH-41. With a deep breath, he blew the whistle as loud as he could. All the soldiers let out their battle cries and yells as they charged over the wall and into the fog before them. The man with the flag was in the front of the charge as they continued to run through the streets, their yells echoed around the entire city as they ran. When the last of the first wave were over the wall, the whistle blew once more to signal the second wave's charge. Chris gripped his bayonet tightly as he and the rest of the men began yelling as they charged over the wall. As they ran through the fog, they easily caught up with the first wave as they continued towards the enemy. Chris could see the fog already beginning to lift around them as they continued to run. But when the fog cleared, the yells from the men changed from battle cries to cries of fear and death. When the soldiers came running out of the fog they were instantly greeted by machine gun fire from a White Fang barricade of sandbags and Faunus. The militiamen with rifles began to fire at the White Fang position while the unarmed men tried in futile attempts to run and get over the sandbag wall. Men began trying to break into the buildings along the road to escape the gunfire, only to be cut down like paper by the machine guns. The White Fang showed no mercy to the already wounded militiamen charging at their position while the others began to turn around and run back. But when these men were seen running back, they learned why General Schnee and his officers were armed with automatic weapons.

"NO RETREATS, NO COWARDS!" General Schnee yelled as he gestured with his officer's sabre to fire, the officers hesitant for a moment before open-firing at the retreating militiamen. Those who weren't cut down instantly began turning and running back to the battle while others took their chances against General Schnee's officers. One man actually got past the machine guns are was just about past General Schnee when the general suddenly lunged with his officer's sabre still drawn. The blade pierced the man's torso as the soldier let out a bloodcurdling cry of pain before falling to the ground. The officers looked at General Schnee as the horrified general gazed down at his bloodstained sword and boots. Meanwhile, the battle seemed to get worse for the advancing men as the White Fang brought out flamethrowers to hold them back. The man holding the flag was the first to be engulfed in flames, the flag being thrown to the ground while barely getting singed by the flames. Chris was among a group of men taking cover in an alleyway when he witnessed the flag fall to the ground. He watched helplessly as soldier after soldier tried but were met with the same fate as they tried to regain the flag. Chris felt his blood begin to boil with hatred as the distressed cries of his comrades bellowed in the air, leading him to do something no man would never have done. He suddenly stood from his cover and began charging towards the flag to regain it. The White Fang soldiers couldn't believe their eyes as the soldier hiding behind cover would go out of his way to grab the flag even after witnessing others fail. To Chris's advantage, the White Fang were so surprised that they seemed to overlook the young man as he grabbed the flag and retreated back to cover with it. When he returned, all eyes were on him as he gripped the flag tightly in his hands when he leaned back against the wall.

"SEE COMRADES? CHRIS, EVEN THOUGH IN THE FACE OF DEATH AND HELL, HE RETRIEVED THE FLAG! WE MUST SHOW THESE FOOLS THE PRICE THEY MUST PAY FOR INVADING OUR HOMES! SOON IT WILL GO FROM HERE AMONG OUR FALLEN COMRADES TO THEIR LAND AND THEIR BLOOD! CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" the soldier yelled to rally the men behind Chris, who nodded his head in agreement with the world the man spoke. The militiamen in cover felt their blood boil because of the man's words as they readied their weapons for one final push. When Chris jumped out from behind cover, the final assault had begun!


	3. Chapter 3

Ghost-407 - **Dallas Thompson**

The words of the soldier seemed to inspire the men around him as the militiamen around them rallied for one final push against the enemy. The roars of their angered yells echoed in the air and seemed to shake the sandbags the White Fang soldiers were using for cover. Out of the alleyways and from whatever offered cover came the Vale Militia charging with all their strength. The faces of the soldiers were no long of fear and dread, but now of anger and rage against the invading Faunus. The White Fang soldiers were stunned at first before their senses returned to them after they realized how close they were getting.

"USE THE MACHINE GUNS, USE THE- AUGH!" a White Fang soldier began to yell before Chris jumped over the wall of sandbags and stabbed the man with the end of the flagpole. The other militiamen came rushing behind Chris as they slaughtered the White Fang remaining at the position before continuing towards the White Fang base, some of the men stopping to pick up the guns the White Fang were using to cut them down. At the front of the charge was Chris himself as he showed no signs of stopping or slowing down until they arrived at the enemy's White Fang had taken position in what used to be the city's harbor. The river it stood before allowed the White Fang to ship more supplies and soldiers via waterfront and allowed an escape route if the time was necessary. But the drawback to this position was the fact that without boats there was no escape due to the river's depth. The boats that had been stationed there had departed only moments ago to grab more supplies and soldiers to defend the line.

The roars of the militiamen reached the unprepared White Fang too late as the men came rushing in with guns blazing, the militiamen cutting down any White Fang soldier caught in their field of view. Chris gripped the flagpole in one hand and ,in the other, a Mauser C96 pistol he picked up when they broke through the White Fang machine gun position. The Faunus in the White Fang base were unable to get to their stations or their weapons in time to properly defend their base and were now left scattering across the battlefield for their lives. After only a few minutes of fighting that seemed like hours to the men in combat, the White Fang began laying down their weapons and raising their hands in the air to show their surrender. A roar of applause came from the militiamen as they picked up the guns from the surrendering White Fang to make sure they wouldn't try to fight again. Chris, having the flag, made his way to the center of the camp where the enemy's flagpole stood flying the enemy's flag. With one clean shot to the rope, the flag came falling to the ground while Chris stabbed the flagpole that waved Vale's colors into the ground next to the flagpole. Celebratory shots from the militiamen began echoing around the base along with their cheers of victory. But celebrations would be short lived as the now prisoners remembered the ships that had departed for the other side of the river. The sudden amount of gunfire would make the men aboard the ships grab the gear and reinforcements more quickly than ever before. This was proven when a soldier celebrating near the shore glanced out across the river to see what appeared to be small barges making their ways back across the river.

"ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS ON THE RIVER!" the militiaman yelled, calling the celebrating soldiers' attentions to the river.

"THERE'S TOO MANY OF 'EM, WE HAVE TO FALL BACK!" one man said in a feat of panic at the sight of the White Fang reinforcements coming their way.

"NO! NO RETREATS! WE'VE COME TOO FAR TO TURN BACK AND RUN! WE NEED A PLAN AND FAST!" Chris yelled to the men to try and get them to rally behind him for a defense.

"THE FLAMETHROWERS! THROW THE FUEL TANKS FOR THE FLAMETHROWERS IN THE WATER AND SHOOT THEM WHEN THE BOATS GET CLOSE!" a voice called from the crowd of soldiers gathering at the riverside. Chris looked around for the source of the idea until his eyes caught glimpse of a man walking towards him, the man carrying one of the flamethrower tanks as he approached. The man was a tall one of about 7 feet with large blue eyes, brown hair, and a lightly tan but with a muscular build. He appeared to be wearing the same gear as the rest of the soldiers around him while a large .50 cal machine gun was strapped onto his back.

"What's your name?" Chris asked as he watched the man throw the tank in the water, the fuel-filled container already floating towards the boats.

"Dallas Thompson, and I suggest we get a move on," the man said as he gestured back towards the enemy camp to show where to get the fuel tanks. Chris nodded his head as he and a large group of men ran back to the enemy camp to grab more fuel tanks to toss into the river. While they gathered the fuel tanks, Dallas and a few other men began setting up firing positions with other heavy machine guns they found in the enemy camp when they attacked. The machine guns were set up in case of if the fuel tanks weren't enough to make the enemy turn back they could cut down the White Fang as they stepped on the beach. When Dallas and the other finished setting up their guns, Chris and the soldiers who went with him came back with fuel tanks to throw into the river. One by one, the tanks were thrown into the river and seemed to quickly drift towards the approaching boats. The White Fang aboard the boats didn't seem to notice what the militiamen were doing as they kept their coarse straight towards them. The men at the machine guns aimed their sights at the floating fuel tanks in the water, waiting for the orders to fire. A tense silence filled the air on the river and the riverbank as the soldiers standing ready for the order held their aim at the floating fuel tanks. When the first of the boats advancing towards them passed the fuel tank, the captain of the boat heard it hit the side of the boat.

"FIRE, FIRE NOW!" Dallas yelled, the shoreline erupting in machine gun and rifle fire as they began shooting to explode the fuel tanks in the water. One by one, the fuel tanks were blown and the boats they were beside were engulfed in flames. Those on the flaming boats attempted to save themselves by jumping into the river to douse the flames on themselves. But when they tried to swim to the surface, they were greeted by their enemy's gunfire and nearly killed instantly. Those of the few remaining boats that made it to shore began throwing up their arms in surrender in hopes of being spared from a possible bloodbath.

"THEY'RE TURNING AWAY! LOOK!" a soldier yelled, pointing off in the distance where whatever enemy boats that hadn't been blown up or made it to shore began redirecting back towards the other shore. The yells and cheers returned as the Vale Militia celebrated the victory in driving out the White Fang from the city. The months of suffering and bloodshed was over, the city was theirs once more. But the war was far from over, this victory would only mean one thing to the men:

More supplies and guns to continue fighting for when they redeployed elsewhere.


	4. Chapter 4

The Vale Militia camp was lively with the sounds of celebration as the men who had fought the massive battle danced to the sound of music being played loudly by a group of soldiers with instruments. Trucks full of new uniforms, guns, ammunition, and food had arrived an hour ago and the men had already taken advantage of the new supplies without hesitation. Even the mail from loved ones were now able to be received to the soldiers who'd been waiting months to hear from home and their loved ones. The average person was receiving anywhere from 8 to 15 letters from loved ones who hadn't a clue about what was going on. The only downside to having the roads open were the reporters streaming to the scene to get the first dibs on the story of the battle for the city. Among the celebrating soldiers were Chris and Dallas sitting with a group of soldiers at the ruined fountain. Some of the soldiers, including Chris, were having celebratory smokes from the cigarettes brought in with the supplies. Dallas sat and watched with a slight grin at the men dancing and making fools of themselves in front of the female reporters and the nurses in attempts to impress them.

"Smoke?" Chris asked, offering a cigarette to Dallas while they watched.

"No, I'm good," Dallas replied as he continued to watch the soldiers for a moment before noticing General Schnee speaking to a journalist like he was the biggest hero on the battlefield.

"Hmph, _Schnee's,_ " Dallas said as he turned and accepted the smoke from Chris to hopefully take his mind off the stuck-up, spoiled, idiotic general. Everyone at the fountain could easily see the man's clear hatred for the general and all felt the same way about the man. Before the journalists had arrived, General Schnee had told the men to not breathe a word about the final charge and how the wounded were forced to either fight with wounds or without weapons. But who was going to listen to him after what he did to them? It didn't seem to matter, though, as none of the journalists seemed too interested in how the men won the battle or how they repelled the reinforcements coming from the waterfront. They only seemed to be interested in the soldiers' opinions about the war and the attack on both Beacon and Vale.

"Sir, can I get an answer?" a reporter asked impatiently, Chris snapping out of a small trance he'd slipped in watching the festivities.

"Huh? Oh, uh...go fuck yourself," Chris replied with a smile, the men around him laughing as they watched the angry reporter storm off in a huff. But as the men around the ruined fountain laughed, Chris suddenly heard what sounded like the approach of an airship. All eyes went to the sky when the loud roar of the jet engines on the wings of the airship was overhead of them.

"What the hell's that about?" Dallas asked as he watched the airship circle around the sky for a moment as it looked for a clear place to land.

"Looks like a Beacon transport airship. Huntsmen coming in," a soldier said, Dallas rolling his eyes in response. Chris watched as the side door of the airship opened to reveal the Huntsman team inside ready to land.

"What are they doing here?" Chris finally asked as the airship made it's descent onto the ground to drop the team off on the ground before leaving.

"Most likely here to take credit for the victory or say they played a part in it. I thought Huntsmen teams were disbanded after Beacon was wrecked," a soldier said the men at the ruined fountain watched the team as they seemed to be looking for something to do.

"Most of 'em were disbanded while some stuck around to try and help with the war effort. A bunch of sissies who didn't wanna fight in a war because they're too 'high and mighty' to be like us, the real fighters," Dallas said as Chris watched the team make their ways towards where General Schnee and his officers were set up.

"There's no difference to me, as long as they're filling the afterlife with White Fang scumbags I couldn't give a shit which side they're on," Chris said, the men around him agreeing with him. But this conversation was instantly stopped when General Schnee ordered the men to assemble in the center of the base for an important announcement. But as the men assembled, they could see something was bothering the general as he didn't seem to hold eye contact with anyone that tried to speak to him. Was it the shame of sending wounded men to their deaths or making men fight without rifles? Either way, the man had definitely earned whatever hatred the men in the base harbored for him. When it appeared that all the soldiers in the camp were present and accounted for the general began his announcement.

"You men have all fought well these past couple months and this will not go unrewarded. You men will have a 2 week leave to Vale where you will have a small parade before you depart back to combat. But know this: things get even more chaotic and tough for you starting then. You men will run through the paratrooper course for a few days before departing by plane to the enemy lines. Once there, you will regroup at our camp near the borders of Vacuo. Standing next to me is the former Huntsmen team CFVY with one of its members being formerly from the area one of the five suspects that caused the attacks on Vale is located. She is now your top priority to protect, because without her there is no locating the terrorist in time before he or she relocates. Godspeed, gentlemen," General Schnee said, Velvet Scarlatina standing beside the man as he spoke. Even though she was a Huntress and had fought Grimm many times, the poor teen seemed like was about to faint as she stood in front of the soldiers listening to the announcement. When General Schnee saluted the men, the soldiers disregarded him and began returning to whatever they were doing before being gathered for the announcement. But Chris didn't return to the fountain as he began approaching the teen as she waved her teammates goodbye while they boarded a truck leaving for Vale.

"That your team? I thought they'd want to stay with you," Chris said, startling the Faunus teen for a moment before she recollected her thoughts.

"N-no, they wanted to go with me. But your general feared that risk getting all four of us killed would achieve nothing," Velvet said as she watched the truck leave with her friends. But her attention was soon shifted back to Chris as he draped a friendly arm over her as he began guiding her towards the transport trucks waiting to take the Vale Militia soldier back to Vale.

"Don't sweat nothing, we're gonna make sure you get through this without a scratch," Chris said as he nudged her playfully, Velvet smiling and blushing slightly at the young man's friendliness towards her.

"ALRIGHT, LOAD UP BOYS! TIME TO GO HOME!"


	5. Chapter 5

"5 OKAY!"

"4 OKAY!"

"3 OKAY!"

"2 OKAY!"

"1 OKAY!" the paratrooper in the front of the line aboard the plane yelled over the roar of the plane's engines as the door opened to reveal the cold night sky over Vacuo. Chris was among the first 5 in the order to jump from the plane while Velvet and Dallas were in front of him. He could tell Dallas was having no troubles in the approaching jump while Velvet was clearly trembling in fear. She had changed from her Huntress gear and now sported the same apparel as the men aboard the plane with her. Her camera/weapon had also been traded in for Chris's old M1 Carbine while he received a new Thompson when they returned to Vale. The parade promised to the soldiers who fought with all their strength for six months was delivered with a bitter-sweet taste in their mouths. Although they were grateful for the celebration, all they could think about was the final charge and all those who didn't make it back to enjoy it all. But soon the men had no more time to think back to the parade as the large light next to the door turned green to signal the jump. One by one, the men stepped forward towards the door and made the jump into the cold air outside the plane. With every man that jumped Velvet could feel her anxiety growing rapidly while Chris being able to easily sense this.

"Hang on," Chris said behind Velvet as he unhooked Velvet's strap from the roof of the plane to keep the men standing in case of turbulence. He then proceeded to hook the cord to his own person before he spoke to her.

"Alright, you'll jump when I jump. I promise we'll make it to the ground. Just close your eyes and think of home and I'll take care of the landing," Chris said to try and calm the scared teen, who nodded her head as it was her turn to jump. Chris waited for Velvet to take a deep breath before the two jumped from the plane, Chris's parachute opening as they left the plane to slow their descent to the ground below. Velvet's eyes were shut tightly as she couldn't bare to see how high up in the air the two were.

"Don't worry, we're almost to the ground," Chris said as he began looking down at the ground below to asses the surroundings. They appeared to be jumping into what looked like a small forest on the outskirts of a small farm village with a few of the lights on in some homes. It almost appeared that the people of the village were unaware of the paratroopers landing only yards from their homes. But Chris had to redirect his attention to the landing as he realized that he was heading straight towards a tree. The wind was too strong for the soldier to hopefully redirect the parachute to an area without trees. In one swift move, Velvet suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her as her body was suddenly spun the opposite way. The sudden jolt of the parachute getting caught in the branches, the snapping of twigs, and Chris's grunts from hitting the branches filled Velvet's ears just before she felt her feet on the ground once more. She opened her eyes to see herself in what appeared to be in a dark forest only lit by the moonlight from the sky. She was slightly relieved from surviving the jump until she remembered both where she was and Chris's pained grunts only moments ago. She began frantically looking around for the young man until her eyes caught what looked like a pair of boots dangling from the tree she was standing beneath.

"Good to see you landed on your feet while I'm just up in a tree up here," Chris called down, Velvet beginning to laugh at how Chris looked like a marionette as he was tangled in the parachute's cords.

"You need help?" Velvet asked between laughs, Chris kicking violently to hopefully escape from the tangle while she spoke.

"No, I felt like staying up here for a little while longer. It's not like we're in a warzone or anything!" Chris replied sarcastically as Velvet began looking for something in her gear to cut him down. But just as she was about to find something to use, the sound of a branch cracking was lightly heard to the two.

"Oh, this is gonna-" Chris said before the branch holding him in the tree snapped, sending him to the ground below with a 'thud!'. Velvet began laughing even more as Chris began throwing the cords off him until he was free from them.

"You think that's funny, huh? I'll give you something to laugh at!" Chris said with a laugh as he drew his M1 Bayonet from an ankle sheath and began chasing after Velvet, who screamed playfully as she ran away from him. The two bolted past trees and bushes as the soldier chased the Huntress for what felt like forever for the teen, who was actually having the time of her life. But when she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore she began to slow her pace to a halt. The darkness of the forest around her already began getting to her as every individual sound was as if something was watching her. She looked around rapidly as she began trying to look for where Chris had disappeared to.

"GOTCHA!" Chris yelled, surprising the Huntress as he playfully tackled her to the ground. The two began laughing as they rolled around on the ground as they wrestled to see who was going to win. When they stopped rolling, Velvet had won the small fight and now sat on top of Chris while they laughed. But Velvet's laughter slowly ceased when she realized how she was sitting on top of him and how bright red she was turning. She was also finally able to study Chris's features now that she was so close to him. He looked to be just as old as she was but the time of war had given him a tough and hard exterior with a clear soft and caring interior. Meanwhile, Chris calmed down from the fight to be instantly greeted by a sight he'd soon never forget. The moonlight seemed to illuminate the teen as her eyes seemed to sparkle like the stars in the sky behind her. He was utterly speechless as the two stared at each other for was felt like an eternity. Then, inexplicably, the two found themselves bringing each other closer to one another.

'What am I doing? He's a soldier who could have any woman he wanted just by looking at them,' Velvet thought as they drew closer.

'What am I doing? She's a Huntress who could have any guy at the snap of her fingers,' Chris thought as they now sat only inches from each other. But just before Chris could say anything, Velvet suddenly ambushed him with a passionate kiss that drew his mind to a blank. It was as if time around them came to a complete stop and the war raging in Remnant was just a bad dream to the two.

"Am I interrupting something?" Dallas asked with a laugh, the two snapping out of the kiss induced trance as they quickly turned their attention to him with the two were bright red.

"NOTHING!" the two exclaimed as they quickly stood to their feet and straightened out their gear while Dallas approached the two.

"Come on, lovebirds, we're supposed to regroup at that village," Dallas said with a laugh as he gestured for the two to follow him.


	6. Chapter 6

"On a scale of 1 to 10 on being lost, they could make a really bad show about us right now," Dallas groaned as the three trekked through the woods, the air frigid with every gust of wind while clouds above began to slowly drop snowflakes to the ground below.

"Why, of all seasons, did we have to invade during Winter?" Chris said as he breathed heavily into his shivering hands before reaching into his pack to retrieve his paratrooper gloves to put on.

"Because those White Fang scumbags are worse off than we are. Ill-equipped and low on supplies means a quicker win for us," Dallas said as he looked up at the snow in the sky before returning his focus on navigating through the woods with the others. But before Chris could say anything else, the sound of a twig snapping not too far from their position filled their ears. The three came to a complete stop. They each scanned the bushes and trees for any signs of the source of the sound before Chris slowly made his way towards the direction of the sound. He aimed his Thompson in front of him as he slowly walked towards a small bunch of bushes. His breath was slow but heavy as he approached the bushes, poking the barrel of the Thompson into the bush when he thought he saw something. Sure enough, something moved when he did so and resulted in Chris reaching into the bushes to grab whatever it was. But when he pulled out what was hiding in the bushes he and the others became both confused and relieved. It appeared to be a young woman in the Vale Militia like they were but from her uniform they could tell she was a medic. The medic strongly resembled Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail with slightly smaller eyes and smaller bust and appeared to be a Faunus with dear antlers and tail. She was dressed in a female version of the standard fatigues but wore no helmet while sporting the medic cross on an armband and kept her hair in a tight bun.

"Got a medic over here, looks like one of ours," Chris said as he pulled the now scared woman out from the bushes before leading her towards Velvet and Dallas.

"Jeez, she looks like she's been through Hell and back," Dallas said as he studied the medic's uniform, Chris taking the time to do the same as well. He was right about her uniform being torn and seeming to have been through the worst of situations.

"You alright, ma'am? Where's the rest of your team?" Chris asked when the two came to a stop where Dallas and Velvet where, the medic hesitant for a moment before she spoke.

"What's your name?" Velvet asked in a soft voice to hopefully not scare the woman anymore than Chris and Dallas had already done.

"...Grace Tempest of 2nd Battalion, who are currently resting at the bottom of the river," the medic said as she gestured behind her, the three looking at each other for a moment before Chris spoke.

"Take us there," Chris said, Grace nodding her head as she began leading the way towards the final resting place of her comrades.

* * *

"So this must be the bridge they were talking about back at the base," Dallas said as he peered through a pair of binoculars down from their vantage point that overlooked a bridge. It was a large concrete bridge with bunkers station at both ends to protect the bridge, machine gun nests on the bridge in case of an attack, and regular White Fang soldiers patrolling. There were clear signs of a fight from the scorched areas and how some of the White Fang soldiers now sported Vale Militia helmets as trophies. Some of the off-duty guards sat around a large campfire near one side of the bridge, where bodies of fallen militiamen were being searched and looted by the White Fang.

"Those fuckers. No respect for the dead," Chris said as he gripped his Thompson tightly while gritting his teeth in anger.

"They ambushed us when we were wandering around in the dark. They drove us to the bridge just as the machine guns began cutting us down," Grace said as she pointed towards a part of the bridge still littered with bodies.

"Wait, were you with the paratroopers? If so, looks like we're the only ones left," Dallas asked as he continued to watch the enemy-controlled bridge through the binoculars.

"No, I was with a small ground force sent to take the bridge so tanks and reinforcements could come into Vacuo," Grace replied as she looked down at the bridge with Dallas.

"Heh, I always wanted to be a tank driver," Chris said with a laugh, Velvet looking surprised at this reveal.

"So what's the plan? We can't take that many White Fang on our own," Dallas asked as Grace grabbed the binoculars from Dallas and began inspecting something down at the camp near the bridge.

"Looks like they grabbed one of our tanks from the attack," Grace said as she handed Chris the binoculars and pointed to where she spotted the tank. She was right, there sat a M4 Sherman tank with a couple White Fang members using it as a large seat or a place to sleep. Chris laughed to himself as he handed the binoculars back to Grace and gestured for the others to gather around him. He proceeded to pull out his M1 Bayonet and draw a plan in the dirt the four stood on.

"So the bridge is guarded by two bunkers on both sides, a shell from that tank down there should knock them out. But to get to that tank we're gonna need to take out the guys around it. I studied tanks in basic training so I know how to drive one. Once inside, I'm gonna need someone who can load the shells into the main gun while someone else uses the machine gun inside the tank to cut down any White Fang trying to break into the tank. Dallas, you're on the .50 cal so I know you'll love that part," Chris said as he mapped out the bridge and the various bunkers and White Fang positions. Dallas nodded his head in agreement at the chance to use the mounted .50 cal on the tank while Velvet smiled at Chris's sudden leadership skills just now being revealed.

"But how are we going to get down there?" Grace asked, getting her answer when Chris loaded a magazine of ammo into his Thompson with a wicked smile on his face.

"Oh, that's gonna be the fun part," Chris said before the four began making their ways down to the White Fang camp...

 **Grace Tempest-** **Ghost-407**


	7. Chapter 7

"You have any family back home?" Dallas whispered to Chris as the two men crept through the shadows of the forest around the camp only populated by a few White Fang, the M4 Sherman tank they were hoping to steal was sitting in the outer perimeter of the camp.

"Yeah, a younger sister that you wouldn't believe was related to me," Chris whispered back to Dallas as they slowly crept behind a tree where a White Fang soldier was resting peacefully against. In one swift move, Chris grabbed the man with a hand clasped over the person's mouth and pulled him into the shadows so Dallas could slit his throat with a knife. Once that had been done the two returned their focus to how they could get to the tank without being spotted.

"Velvet and Grace should be in position right now. Those uniforms we took from those lookouts should get them into the camp unnoticed," Dallas said as he glanced over to a side of the camp where Grace and Velvet were supposed to be. Sure enough, the two teens emerged from the shadows wearing the standard uniforms for a White Fang member as they made their ways through the camp. They seemed to draw no attention to themselves as they walked through the camp towards the tank. Ever so often, someone would stop for a moment when they thought they recognized the two before going on with their business. Both girls seemed to be on the brink of breaking down while Dallas and Chris took out any White Fang in the outer perimeter of the camp that realized that the two were not really on their side. When Velvet and Grace arrived at the tank, the White Fang standing around it looked at them for a moment before one spoke to them.

"You two don't look familiar. Where are you two from?" one of the White Fang on the tank asked as he climbed down to speak to them.

"W-we're from around here, we joined when the Vale Militia invaded," Velvet replied in hopes to elude the question before they could catch on. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Chris grabbing one of the White Fang near the other side of the tank and out of sight of the ones focused on Velvet and Grace.

"Really? Then how come you two aren't armed? Everyone here's got a gun except you two," the man continued as he gestured to his sidearm, the others on the tank gesturing to their rifles as well.

"They sent us over here to get our own before heading back towards the bridge," Velvet continued while Dallas worked on grabbing and killing another White Fang without drawing attention to him. But this excuse did not seem to deter the White Fang soldier interrogating them as he continued to question them.

"New recruits get rifles on the bridge, so why are you two here?" the man asked as he reached towards a side holster holding a Webley revolver while the remaining White Fang on the tank readying their guns as well. Velvet and Grace glanced at one another for a moment before returning their focus to the White Fang on the tank, becoming relieved when they saw the lone White Fang soldier asking them questions was the only one remaining.

"End of the line, traitors!" the man said as he drew the pistol before being suddenly turned around by Dallas. With a hit that sounded like it could've easily broken the man's nose Dallas punched with all his might and sent the man falling to the ground unconscious. Chris came out from behind the tank and made his way towards the unconscious man, picking up the Webley revolver from ground and checking the chambers. He then proceeded to grab a canteen from one of the dead White Fang they dragged behind the tank to keep out of sight and pour the contents onto the man's face to wake him up.

"This is an officer's pistol of the Vale Militia and last I checked you weren't with us," Chris growled as he placed the barrel of the revolver on the now terrified White Fang soldier's forehead, the pistol going *click* when Chris pulled the trigger.

"Dammit, the one dud in the whole gun and it happens when I try to use it," Chris said as he placed the pistol in his own holster before drawing his bayonet and finishing the man off. Once that had been done, the four began making their ways into the tank to see if it could still move. When they climbed inside, they were greeted by a horrid stench that both Chris and Dallas knew exactly what it belonged to. The previous tank crew's bodies sat in their stations and were riddled with bullet holes and scars. Chris shook his head as he jumped down into the tank while Dallas stayed outside to grab the bodies as Chris passed them up. Velvet tried not to throw up at the sight of the bodies while Grace grabbed their dog-tags from their uniforms to identify them when they were in a safe area and away from enemy lines. When the last of the bodies had been passed up, Dallas lowered himself inside to help Chris wipe out the blood from the inside before the girls got inside. After a few moments both Dallas and Chris tossed up bloodstained rags they used out of the tank and signaled for the two to come inside.

"I'll drive," Chris said as he sat in the driver's seat of the massive armored vehicle before starting the engine. The tank roared to life as Dallas made his way over to a gunner seat inside of the tank where a .50 cal machine gun sat loaded and ready to shoot.

"Damn, couldn't even fire a single shot before they were massacred," Dallas said as the tank began to slowly move forward from the camp.

"Alright, someone load a shell into the main gun. It's about to get loud," Chris said as he looked through the small window of the tank for the driver to see where he was going. A few yards and closing stood the first bunker on the bridge. Velvet quickly grabbed one of the explosive shells inside the tank, slid it into the main gun's chamber, and sealed the chamber behind it to ready the shell. Chris then began adjusting the main gun's sight as he aligned the large canon with the bunker.

"Get ready Dallas, time for some payback," Chris said as he fired the large gun of the tank straight at the bunker.


	8. Chapter 8

"LOAD ANOTHER SHELL!" Chris yelled as he watched the bunker in front of the tank explode in a fireball, sending concrete everywhere while White Fang soldiers around it began scattering for cover. Dallas took advantage of the confusion caused by the shot and began firing from the .50 cal at the scattering White Fang soldiers. Some were cut down instantly from his shooting while others were able to find cover behind machine gun nests and what was left of the bunker. Alarms began to sound in the night as the rest of the men stationed at the bridge began running to their battle stations. Chris laughed as the White Fang began shooting at the tank in futile attempts to stop the tank from crossing. Velvet had just loaded another shell into the main gun when Chris began aiming at the remaining bunker on the bridge.

"Gotta love tanks," Chris said as he fired the main gun, the other bunker exploding like the one before except taking a large group of White Fang with it. The only defenses on the bridge were now the lightly armed foot soldiers or the machine gun nests that men were abandoning to save their own skins. But this streak of good luck was cut short when the last of Dallas's ammo ran dry.

"CRAP, OUT OF AMMO!" Dallas yelled as he looked around where he was sitting for any extra cases of ammunition. Chris began looking around through the driver's window to see if he could spot anymore ammunition. He spotted a .50 cal gun resting in one of the machine gun nests with the ammo still in tact.

"That nest over there's got ammo for ya," Chris said as he began reaching above him to open the hatch above him, stopping when he heard what sounded like the main hatch to the tank opening. He and Dallas turned to see what looked like Grace halfway out of the tank while Velvet watched in confusion. They didn't know what she was doing until Chris looked back out the driver's window to see Grace making her way towards the machine gun nest.

"COVERING FIRE!" Chris yelled as he opened the hatch above the driver's position and began laying down suppressing fire with his Thompson while Grace began unloading the ammo from the machine gun. Once she unloaded the belt of ammo from the gun and grabbed two spare cases of bullets, she began carefully making her way back towards the tank. The bridge had turned into a full blown battlefield with one side of the bridge having White Fang firing at the now exposed Chris and Grace while the other held the tank and its crew of four. Chris was reloading his Thompson when Grace began climbing up the side of the tank to give Dallas the ammo. But just as she herself was about to climb in, a White Fang soldier suddenly appeared and grabbed her by her legs.

"GOTCHA BITCH!" the enemy soldier yelled while Grace squirmed and kicked to break free of the man's hold. Just before the White Fang soldier could pull her off the tank, Chris suddenly appeared with his helmet in hand and cracked the man across the head with it.

"YOU FUCK WITH ONE OF US AND I CRACK YOUR SKULL!" Chris yelled as he threw the man from the tank before helping Grace back inside.

"Here," Grace said as she handed Dallas the extra ammunition while Chris crawled back into the driver's seat.

"Alright, let's give these guys a reason to run. LOAD ANOTHER SHELL TO SEND 'EM RUNNING HOME!" Chris said as he began driving the tank towards the White Fang's side of the bridge. Velvet nodded her head as she quickly reloaded the main gun on the tank while Dallas was fully loaded and began firing once more, cutting down any White Fang unfortunate enough to be caught in his field of view. When the shell was finally loaded into the main gun, Chris began adjusting the large gun towards what looked like the most White Fang crowded part of the bridge and prepared to fire. But just before he could one of the enemy soldiers attempting to hold a position fired a lucky shot that soared across the bridge and through the driver's window. The glass stopped the bullet but glass shards were sent flying at Chris.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Chris yelled in pain as he fell back from the driver's seat while clenching a hand over the left side of his face, blood dripping down from his face. Grace saw this and quickly grabbed her gear before making her way over to him. She rummaged through a pack before producing a small dose of morphine for the pain, stabbing the needle into him to give the dosage. Once that was done she then moved on to moving Chris's hand to see where the blood was coming from. Velvet and Dallas nearly gagged at the sight of what looked like a shard of glass stabbed into Chris's left eye.

"Okay, this'll hurt for a bit," Grace said softly as she took Chris by his hand to comfort him while using her other to slowly but carefully take the glass out.

"AUGH, FUCK! THE MORPHINE AIN'T WORKING! AAH!" Chris cried out in pain as Grace worked on pulling the glass out faster to get it over with. In one swift move, she removed the shard and made Chris cry out even louder than before. Grace then proceeded to grab bandages from her pack, rip part of Chris's jacket off, and began fashioning a makeshift eye patch for him.

"Okay...now...I'M PISSED!" Chris yelled in anger when Grace tied the eye patch over his wounded eye, getting back into the driver's seat and preparing to fire the main gun. With one shot, he was able to shoot into a large group of the remaining enemy soldiers on the bridge. Those who weren't killed by the explosion were running away from the armored killing machine. This left Chris and the others alone to sit inside the tank to fully deal with Chris's wounded eye. He laid back in his seat while Grace removed the bandages to continue with the necessary procedures to make sure Chris didn't bleed to death or get the wound infected.

"I can't give him another dosage of morphine, he needs to stay awake. Velvet, I need you to get on that radio and get in touch with our guys," Grace said as she began carefully working on the wound, Velvet already making her way towards the radio to get in touch with the Vale Militia.

"You said you had a sister earlier. Who is she?" Dallas said in an attempt to start a conversation that would keep Chris awake while Grace worked on his wound.

"Aah...y-yeah, but she doesn't really look a lot like me," Chris replied, wincing in pain every now and then.

"Thank goodness because that'd make her pretty ugly," Dallas said with a laugh, Chris flipping him off as he did so. Velvet and Grace laughed at the duo's joking even during a serious situation like this.

"What's her name?" Grace asked softly as she changed the bandages and began refashioning the eye patch from earlier.

"Her name?Aah...Pyrrha Nikos," Chris said as he gestured to his name tag that read 'Nikos' across the chest, everyone in the tank finally reading it for the first time.


	9. Chapter 9

Chris awoke with the worst headache he'd ever felt in his life, like someone hitting him with a sledgehammer directly in the face. He also felt like the world around him was spinning faster than he could keep up with. He looked around with his one good eye to see that he was still inside the tank while his comrades seemed to be outside from the voices he heard outside of the tank.

"Leave me in here with a fucked up eye, I don't care," Chris said to himself sarcastically as he slowly and carefully stood from his seat and began making his way towards the main hatch atop the tank. When he opened the hatch, he was instantly greeted by the blinding light of the morning sun and the cold crisp air it brought with it. He placed a hand over his eye as he began climbing out of the tank while taking measures to not slip and fall off it. Near the tank at a small makeshift camp sat Dallas and Grace as they cooked a small breakfast from their reserve of food and what they scavenged from the forest around them. Grace was the first to notice Chris climbing out of the tank and the first to speak to him.

"Chris, thank goodness you're awake. Velvet was worried and thought you died while Dallas called dibs on that revolver you picked up last night," Grace said with a laugh while Velvet turned bright red from embarrassment. Chris just laughed as he made his way over to Velvet and sat next to her at the small camp with the others. Although Chris's headache and dizziness hadn't ceased, he refused to show it to the rest of the team that. It was bad enough that he made Velvet worry that he died when he passed out from the morphine injections Grace gave him. But it seemed that something was clearly bothering Grace as she sat silently and kept to herself.

"Grace, you alright?" Chris asked after a few moments of silence, Grace becoming surprised for second from the random question before answering.

"If I hadn't gone out there during the shooting, you wouldn't have given your position away and made the tank come closer to pick me up. That White Fang soldier wouldn't have had a clear shot through the driver's window to shoot you," Grace said quietly as she looked to the ground in shame. But unexpected to her, Chris didn't seem at all mad when he spoke to her once more.

"Everyone's gonna walk away from this war with scars, some physical and some mental, and it's inevitable. But you made it out of there with ammo for Dallas to push the White Fang back away from the tank. If that guy was any closer to the window when he shot, I wouldn't be here and my brains would be splattered all over the inside of that tank," Chris said as he gestured to his eye and then the tank while he spoke, Dallas and Velvet nodding their heads in agreement to Chris's words. Grace couldn't help but smile at how he harbored no ill feelings towards her from last night's massive shootout. But her smile soon disappeared when a thought came to mind: the mission.

"So what do we do now? We're four soldiers in an entire land that wants to either kill us or is too scared that the White Fang will kill them if they help us," Grace said as she looked around the group as she spoke.

"We do what they sent us here for and I intend on finding the ones responsible for attacking Vale and Beacon-" Chris spoke before suddenly stopping, everyone around him going silent as well. As Chris was speaking, the sound of leaves rustling and a twig breaking was heard over his voice. This meant that something, or someone, was very close to their position. Grace and Velvet sat motionless while Chris slowly stood from where he was sitting next to Velvet and drew his revolver. He then gestured for Dallas to follow him into the rural area around the tank and camp, Dallas drawing a knife before following the man. With every step the two men took, they could swear they heard what sounded like heavy breath and groaning.

"Ugh...we've been walking all night, Ren! Can't we stop for a few minutes...or hours," a female's voice said, making Dallas and Chris stop dead in their tracks.

"Nora's right, we need to stop or else Ruby's gonna pass out," another voice said before Chris turned to Dallas and gestured for him to circle around the sources of the voices.

"I'm not gonna pass out! You're gonna pass out, Jaune!" another female voice said in what sounded like a mix of breathless gasps and deliriousness. Dallas was already circling around the other side of the unknown voices while Chris slowly began edging forward to see for himself who the voices belonged to. After getting behind what he assumed was cover that they couldn't see him he finally was able to get a clear view of the unknown persons. Almost instantly, Chris recognized the four teens standing in the middle of the forest bickering to one another about rest. He knew who they were from watching the tournament that took place only hours before the massive attack and confusion.

Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora.

Chris was just about to stand when he accidentally stepped on a fallen branch, the four teens suddenly becoming alert and drawing their weapons. Chris instantly found himself ducking back down behind cover while the four teens began scanning the woods for what caused the sound.

"I know for a fact I heard something that time," Jaune said as he slowly began moving from his friends and directly towards Chris's hiding spot. But Chris was unaware of this as he was checking his revolver to make sure it was loaded in case the four had spotted him and attacked. Just before Chris could see where the four teens where, he felt the cold steel of a sword to his throat. But it wasn't Jaune that had found him...

"The name's Maverick, and I'd advise you not to move," a young man's voice said as Chris slowly stood from his hiding spot to reveal himself to the teens and the mysterious stranger holding a blade to throat.

 **Noctis Caelum Lucis - Maverick Zachery**


	10. Chapter 10

"You know I'm on your side, right?" Chris asked as he was escorted back to his camp by the tip of a katana blade belonging to Maverick while Dallas was trying not to piss off an armed Nora. Now that Maverick was in the open, Chris could get a better look at him. Maverick appeared to have silver hair, blue eyes, and stood at 5'11 ft tall with a lean body figure. He wore a red zip-up hoodie with a vest underneath the coat, a navy muscle-shirt beneath the vest, and a pair of dark blue pants. In addition, he wore a ring on his left hand which sported a rose design on its face that was identical to the designs on his belt buckle, coat clasp, and coat buttons. His right hand was, strangely enough, wrapped up as if he was hiding a wound or scar.

"Last I checked you were about to shoot at them," Maverick said as he gestured to Chris's sidearm that he now possessed. Chris rolled his eyes as he and Dallas, who was slightly worried how the now armed Nora was escorting him with a large hammer, were escorted back to their campsite where Grace and Velvet were waiting for them.

'Maybe they can bail us out of this,' Chris thought to himself with a glimmer of optimism, that glimmer soon being crushed into dust when they arrived. Both Grace and Velvet were standing against the tank while a young man armed with two solid white Desert Eagles aimed at them while a pair of katanas sat sheathed on his back. The other young man appeared to be about 14 and bore a strong resemblance to Ryan Reynold and wore a pair of black combat boots, military green cargo pants, a red no-sleeve shirt, and a combat vest over the shirt with holsters for the Desert Eagles and the two katanas sheathed over the back of the combat vest.

"Ryan, I trust you didn't hurt these two," Maverick said as he gestured to Velvet and Grace before sheathing his katana and letting Chris move freely.

"I'm shocked at your lack of trust for me! I don't bite...that hard," Ryan said as he winked at Velvet, who glared at him in response. This was also met with Chris lunging at him with a balled-up fist to hit him with. But Ryan easily dodged hit attack and counterattacked with a sharp blow to Chris's lower gut, sending Chris to the ground as he coughed in pain. Velvet instantly fell to her knees next to him to make sure he was alright while Maverick slapped Ryan in the back of the head.

"They're not against us!" Maverick exclaimed while Ryan rubbed the back of his head in pain, Ruby slowly making her way over to Velvet as the two fought.

"Velvet? Is that you?" the young teen asked, Velvet instantly recognizing the voice of her friend.

"RUBY!" Velvet exclaimed as she helped Chris up from the ground, Ruby running towards her old friend with open arms.

"VELVET!" Ruby yelled as she embraced both Velvet and Chris in what felt like a death hug of epic proportions. Chris struggled to break free from the iron grip of the young teen for a moment before being able to slip away and catch his breath.

"Wait, are we just gonna ignore the fact that they just threatened to kill us?!" Dallas said with disbelief, everyone looking at one another before nodding their heads to his question. He simply scoffed as he walked over to the tank and slumped to the ground next to it. Chris just laughed as he made his way over to Jaune and the others while Velvet and Ruby caught up on lost times.

"You must be Jaune, I've heard a helluva lot about you," Chris said as he slapped the young man on the back while he spoke.

"Really? From who?" Jaune asked as he, Nora, Ren, Chris, and Ryan sat around the small campfire to warm themselves in the cold morning air.

"My sister. She went on and on about you! She has the biggest crush on you and I can't believe you didn't notice," Chris said, Ryan and Nora laughing while Ren just shook his head in disbelief. Jaune was a shade of bright red from embarrassment for not noticing someone who liked him and for being called oblivious.

"Who is she?" Jaune finally asked when everyone stopped laughing enough for him to speak.

"Really? You don't know? Pyrrha Nikos, man! See?" Chris said with a laugh as he gestured to his name tag on his uniform, his laugh ceasing when he saw the looks on the three teen's faces while Ryan looked just as confused as Chris was now.

"Pyrrha's your sister?" Jaune asked as Nora and Ren looked at each other for a moment before looking down at the ground.

"Yeah...which leads me to ask where she is. Isn't she on your team?" Chris asked while Jaune reached into a backpack he'd been carrying like the other three teens with him had been carrying. Chris's answer was soon provided when Jaune held what looked like the crown she always wore and her sword that transformed into a spear. All eyes shifted from their own conversations and towards Chris as Jaune placed the objects in his now trembling hands.

"... _Why do you have these_?" Chris asked with a trembling voice, no one answering him.

"WHY DO YOU FUCKING HAVE THESE YOU BLONDE FUCK!" Chris yelled in a voice like thunder as he held Pyrrha's sword to Jaune's throat, everyone jumping back for a moment as he did so. Jaune was just as scared as everyone around him while he looked into Chris's eye that seemed to be starting to slowly produce tears yet sport a look of pure anger and fury.

"...She was killed...by Cinder," Jaune finally replied, the blade still being held to his throat as he spoke. Chris glared at the teen for a few moments before lowering the blade from him to ease everyone's minds. But they were wrong to do so as Chris suddenly socked Jaune straight across the face, sending him to the ground while everyone watched in horror.

"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TRY AND HELP HER?!" Chris yelled, tears beginning to stream down his face as he yelled.

"She went up there alone after sending me flying back to the city in one of our deploying lockers," Jaune said as he stood from the ground rubbing his face in pain. Everyone was silent as Chris glared at the teen for a moment before looking at Pyrrha's crown and sword in his hands. After a few minutes of silence, Chris dropped the items to the ground and suddenly drew the revolver. Pulling the hammer back on the side arm he instantly pressed the barrel against the side of his head. But before he could pull the trigger, Dallas grabbed his arm and moved the gun away from Chris's head just as he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed in the woods around them as Chris struggled to break free from a sleeper hold he'd put Chris into to keep him from hurting either of them. After a few seconds of struggling, Chris dropped the pistol to the ground while Dallas released him from the hold. Velvet had already grabbed the gun from the ground to make sure Chris's didn't go for it again while he began taking trembling steps away from everyone.

"I KNOW YOU WHITE FANG FUCKS CAN HERE ME! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL! I'LL SKIN YOU ALL ALIVE! I'LL CUT YOUR LEADERS' HEADS OFF AND PUT THEM ON FUCKING SPIKES ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!" Chris yelled as his voice echoed all around the group and the woods. When he was finished it sounded as if the entire world had gone silent to the man's voice. But after a few moments of standing motionless, Chris collapsed to his knees and began to weep. Velvet slowly walked towards him while he began punching the ground in anger until Velvet softly put her hands around him. At first he seemed hesitant but soon he accepted the hug and gripped Velvet tightly while he continued to sob...

zElement115 - **Ryan**


	11. Chapter 11

**To clear up the confusion someone sent me a PM about: Chris, Velvet, Grace, and Dallas are wearing American Paratrooper Uniforms and gear since they jumped from a plane to get into Vacuo.**

The cold morning air gave way to a warmer yet slightly frigid midday as the roar of the tank's engine echoed through the vast flatland of tall grass and farming field. The road the tank traveled on went from concrete to mud after a few miles of driving away from the bridge and deeper into Vacuo. Chris and his comrades were sitting at their stations inside the tank while Ruby and the others sat atop the tank in various positions that didn't block the guns or got in the way of Chris's driving view. Chris drove with his head sticking out of the hatch above the driver's seat so he could see better and breathe better than inside of the tank. Dallas also sat with the hatch above his gunner position next to the driver's seat open and his head sticking out the top. Velvet and Grace stood out of the main hatch atop the tank due to them both being skinny and small enough to stand beside one another. Everyone every now and then would cautiously glance over to Chris, who seemed to ignore their glances and glare ahead at the road before him. Even though Chris was still in a state of anger, he agreed to give Ruby and her friends a ride to the nearest town before they continued on their mission to locate the targets. Ruby watched as the fields upon fields of tall grass slowly swayed in the wind before she glanced another direction to a field of flowers and trees. Even though the sun seemed to cast a happy light over the tank and its crew, no one smiled or gave even the slightest grin.

"The town's coming up on our left," Chris said over the engine, everyone surprised that he spoke for a moment before looking to the left to see the town he was speaking of.

It looked to be a small farming village that looked to be celebrating some sort of festival. Chris drove to a small crossroads a few yards from the village and made the turn towards the village. People in the village could hear the tank's engine and all shifted their focuses from the festival they were celebrating to the approaching war machine. Some looked at it as if they'd never seen such a large armored vehicle while the others looked at it with faces of worry. If a tank was coming into their village, that might mean that the war had reached further into their land and would soon take place in their homes. When the tank was in the city limits Chris began looking for a place to both park and hide the tank from the civilians. He found his location when he spotted an abandoned farmhouse near the outer limits of the village. He quickly turned the tank and drove through the open doors of the barn, stopping in the center inside of the barn before cutting the engine off. Everyone began getting out of the tank as Chris worked on shutting the doors to the barn when they left. But when everyone was outside and Chris shut the final door, they noticed he was carrying his Thompson and had all his gear on.

"Alright, fan out and do a full search of this village. I don't want White Fang surprising us while we're here," Chris said, his Thompson held tightly in his hands, as he had already started towards one of the first homes he'd be searching. Dallas shook his head as he began putting on his gear to do the door-to-door searching while Grace looked around in the inside of the tank for a spare weapon.

"Here," Dallas said, Grace turning to see him holding a M1897 shotgun for her.

"Thanks," Grace said as she accepted the shotgun along with a belt he found for her to carry the shells for the gun. But as the two began to walk, they watched as Chris knocked on the door of the first house he was about to search before he kicked in the door with his boot.

"I've never seen anyone's personality do a complete turn around in a few short hours, even after learning of someone's death," Grace said as she and Dallas watched the house Chris was searching for a few moments before he emerged with an angry woman yelling and cursing him out for kicking down her door.

"But his sister was the only family he had left," Dallas said as Chris went on to the next house to continue his search, Velvet just now catching up to Dallas and Grace. Velvet was now armed with a M1 Carbine that Chris made sure the Vale Militia gave her before they made the jump into Vacuo.

"Ruby and the others said they'd meet us in the center of town tonight to celebrate the festival with the villagers," Velvet said, the sight of both Maverick and Ryan making their ways towards the three caught her eye.

"Has he always been like this? Kicking in doors and looking for a reason to kill someone," Ryan asked as he turned to the sound of Chris kicking in another door to a home after they wouldn't let him in after knocking.

"No, but I knew this had to be coming sooner or later. He and I went through some serious shit a month or so ago in a city on the borders of Vale. Six months straight of wondering if a mortar strike from the enemy would hit us or White Fang would come charging out of nowhere. That last week, we were basically saying 'Fuck it, we have nothing to lose anymore'. So we grabbed every man that could move and fight and threw ourselves at them," Dallas replied as he watched Chris come walking out of a home with a man being forced forward by the barrel of his Thompson.

"This guy said two of the six responsible for the attack on Vale and Beacon are coming here tonight as a rest stop. I'm taking him back to the barn for interrogation. Ryan, feel free to help if you'd want while the rest of you can relax," Chris said as Ryan followed him and the prisoner back to the barn, everyone else looking at one another for a moment before heading towards the various shops and stands in the center of town set up for the festival.

"Any ideas?" Chris asked as he continued to push the prisoner towards the barn, Ryan thinking for a moment before an idea came to mind.

"Ever heard of waterboarding?" Ryan asked, the two men looking at one another before looking back towards the now terrified prisoner.


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm starting to lose my patience!" Ryan yelled as he kicked the chair the prisoner was tied to onto its back, Chris placing a large piece of cloth over the man's face before pouring an entire bucket of water onto the man's covered face. The two men had been interrogating the prisoner for what felt like years and were getting nowhere with getting more information. They knew two of the original ringleaders of the Vale attack were coming to the village but they didn't know when they'd arrive or where they'd stay. With every passing moment, Chris's patience began growing thinner and thinner until he was almost to his breaking point.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE!" the man cried when Chris removed the wet cloth from his face so he could breathe. Chris and Ryan looked at one another before Chris returned his focus to the whining prisoner.

"He might be telling the-" Ryan began to say before Chris suddenly lifted the chair back onto all four legs, drew his revolver, and began unloading all but one chamber of the revolver. Once there was a single bullet he spun the chamber and placed the barrel to the prisoner's forehead before he spoke.

"I'm asking you this one more time: Who is coming and where are they going to stay?" Chris asked in a calm voice that still scared the prisoner at the other end of the gun.

"Please, I don't know anything," the prisoner cried, shrieking in terror when Chris pulled the trigger to make the revolver *click* to signal an empty chamber.

"You sure?" Chris asked as he pulled the hammer back on the revolver once more to ready another potential shot.

"YES, I'M SURE!" the prisoner yelled once more, having yet another near heart attack when the pistol clicked to signal another empty chamber.

"Then it looks like you're shit out of luck," Chris said as he readied a final shot, clearly seeing the bullet in the chamber when he readied it.

"OKAY! I'LL TALK! EMERALD AND MERCURY, THAT'S THEIR NAMES! THEY'RE STAYING AT THE TAVERN INSIDE A BASEMENT ROOM THE OWNER MADE FOR THEM! HE'S AN AGENT OF THE WHITE FANG, TOO! THEY'LL BE HERE IN AN HOUR!" the prisoner yelled just as Chris was about to pull the trigger. The barn fell silent as the three men looked at one another while Chris still kept the revolver aimed at the prisoner's forehead. But the prisoner soon felt relieved when Chris holstered the gun and began untying him from the chair while Ryan watched with a hint of disagreement.

"He's gonna rat us out if he goes free," Ryan said, Chris nodding his head as he spoke.

"Didn't say we were letting him go," Chris said as he freed the man just before grabbing him and headbutting him with his helmet on. The prisoner fell to the ground like a rock, unconscious and not looking like he was going to come up any time soon. Ryan just shook his head when Chris rubbed his head where he'd headbutted the prisoner, cursing to himself as he did so.

"When has a headbutt ever worked out for the one giving it?" Ryan asked that resulted in Chris flipping him off as he spoke. Suddenly, the door of the barn opened to reveal Dallas and Maverick making their ways towards the two. Dallas took one look at Chris and the unconscious man to figure out what had happened.

"The tavern's basement in an hour," Ryan said as he pointing with one of his katanas towards the village's tavern only a few yards from them.

"So that means we have time to kill," Chris said as the headache he was sporting finally started to clear up.

"Velvet and Grace are already at the festival with Ruby and the others. We could blend in with the crowd and follow them when they get here," Maverick said as he gestured back towards the festival taking place in the village.

"Sounds good," Chris said as he began taking off his helmet and combat gear to not make him stand out anymore than he already did. When he was finished, the four men shut the doors of the barn to conceal the tank and make sure the prisoner didn't escape before making their ways towards the festival. Even though the people knew what Chris had done hours ago they still showed him kindness and welcomed the soldiers with open arms. An hour or so earlier, one of the villagers noticed the rag and bandages over Chris's eye and made him an eyepatch out of leather.

"Where are they?" Chris began to ask as he looked around the village for a moment before his gaze caught something that made him freeze. In the few short hours that Chris and Ryan had been interrogating the man, both Grace and Velvet were able to somehow find dresses to wear during the evening part of the festival. Velvet's dress was red that went down halfway her thigh that showed her curves in a way that held Chris's gaze. Dallas could easily see Chris's gaze at Velvet and shoved him towards her direction.

"Go man, she's been waiting on you for a while," Dallas said, Chris looking back at him for a moment before returning his gaze to Velvet.

"You interrupt us like you did in the woods and you'll be in a worse shape than my eye is right now," Chris threatened, Dallas just rolling his eyes in response. Chris then proceeded towards where Velvet was standing with Ruby and Grace at the festival. Ruby and Grace caught a glimpse of Chris making his way towards Velvet and quietly slipped away from her to give the two space. When she realized Ruby and Grace were gone, Chris was already standing next to her.

"How'd you get that dress?" Chris asked, Velvet just smiling as she shook her head in response.

"You sure you shouldn't be back at the barn with the prisoner?" Velvet asked when she remembered what Ryan and Chris had been doing the whole time.

"I'm where I need to be, and that's right here with you," Chris replied, Velvet blushing as Chris held her hand as they took part in the festival.


	13. Chapter 13

Both Chris and Velvet were having the time of their lives as the two danced along to the music being played at the village's festival. People seemed to be more happy now that the soldiers that had arrived in their village clearly meant no ill will towards them and wanted to help. That and now Chris wasn't armed with any weapon he didn't scare any of the locals with him being there. Velvet laughed giddily as Chris spun her expertly before dipping her in a swift move when she ceased spinning.

"Where'd you learn to dance?" Velvet asked as she laughed from the good time Chris was showing her.

"I wasn't in the military all my life. I had a life before it," Chris replied before grabbing a rose from a villager holding it out for the two and presenting it to Velvet, who once again blushed and turned bright red from the gesture of romance.

"I can see you've done this before," Velvet said as she and Chris continued to dance while the villagers and a few of their comrades watched in awe at their precise moves.

"Honestly...I'm making this up as I go along," Chris said, both he and Velvet laughing in response as the music began drawing to an end. But as they were finishing the dance, something only a few yards away from where they were caught Chris's eye. It looked like two cloaked figures sneaking their ways toward the back of the tavern where the cellar doors were open for them to enter.

'There they are,' Chris thought to himself as he finished the dance with Velvet before pulling her and his comrades to a place they could speak in private without worry of someone in the crowd hearing them.

"I just saw Mercury and Emerald go into the tavern's cellar, just like the prisoner said," Chris said to Ryan as the group made their ways back towards the barn to retrieve their gear and for Velvet and Grace to change back into their gear.

"So it looks like we don't have to kill a potential liar tonight," Maverick said as he glared at the still unconscious prisoner laying on the barn floor.

"Negative, just kill two people responsible for Beacon's collapse," Dallas said as he loaded a belt of ammo into his .50 cal machine gun he pulled from atop the tank. Meanwhile, Chris was inside the tank to gather any extra ammo for the group's weapons when he stumbled onto two spare weapons.

"Grace, Velvet, take these," Chris said as he climbed out of the tank to hand the two teens their weapons in case a fight broke out when they found Mercury and Emerald. Velvet was given an M1 Carbine while Grace was given a Model 97 shotgun with a belt of shells. Grace eyed the shotgun for a moment before looking back at Chris to speak to him.

"I...I've never killed anyone before," Grace said, Velvet nodding her head in a way to say that she had never killed anyone as well.

"I hope you never have to," Chris muttered under his breath as he loaded a drum mag of ammo into his Thompson as he spoke.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Maverick asked as he revealed a second weapon other than his katana blade. His second weapon appeared to be a medium Falchion sword fashioned with a motorcycle-like gear shift along with what looked like a keyhole at the bottom of the hilt of the blade.

"Dallas and Ryan will distract the tavern owner, Maverick and myself will get Mercury and Emerald out from the cellar, and Velvet and Grace will stay back here on the roof of the barn to provide cover with Velvet's rifle if we need it," Chris said as he began pairing each person with someone, Ryan clearing his throat when he finished.

"Just asking this...but where are Ruby and the others?"

"They left town while we were celebrating in the festival. Jaune was scared I might kill him while he slept...he was right, by the way," Chris said, everyone giving a nervous laugh before focusing on the matter at hand. Each of the assigned groups began making their ways to their positions, Maverick and Chris carefully sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen by the tavern owner before Dallas and Ryan could distract him. But as he and Maverick crept through the shadows towards the cellar doors, something caught Maverick's eye on Chris's belt. It looked like a small red and gold device that was definitely out of place on his person.

"What the hell is that?" Maverick asked, getting his answer when Chris pulled the device from his belt and suddenly turning it into Pyrrha's sword.

"They killed my sister and paybacks coming in fast," Chris replied as he re-sheathed her sword back into the small device before they arrived at the cellar doors.

"What about your blade? What the hell's that keyhole for?" Chris whispered, Maverick holding a small chain of various keys glowing different colors.

"Dust keys for the blade," Maverick said as he chose a Dust key and inserted it into the keyhole on the hilt of his blade. Just then, Dallas and Ryan entered the tavern to begin the distraction. When the tavern owner was too busy talking to Dallas and Ryan about whatever they could think of to kill the man's time, Chris and Maverick slowly and quietly opened the doors to the dimly lit cellar under the tavern.

"You sure we weren't followed?" Emerald asked as she laid down in one of two cots in the tavern's cellar, Mercury settling down in one across from her.

"Positive, now go to sleep. We've got a long road ahead of us tomorrow," Mercury replied as he reached over at a lamp that casted the only light in the cellar the two were sleeping in. Emerald just shrugged her shoulders as she laid down in her own cot just as Mercury blew out the flame in the lamp. But as the light faded, Chris and Maverick were able to now enter the cellar without fear of being seen by the two. Pyrrha's blade was now drawn in Chris's hand as he and Maverick approached where Emerald was sleeping. Maverick crept to one side of the cot while Chris went to the other side to hopefully get a surprise on Emerald.

'See you in Hell,' Chris thought as he raised the blade into the air when he lined it up with Emerald's throat. With a loud slice and the sound of someone gargling blood, Chris stabbed the blade straight through Emerald's chest. Her eyes shot open as she flailed her arms to try and wake up Mercury to warn him about the two assassins. But her sight began fading as more and more blood dripped to the floor of the cellar while Chris pulled the blade from her chest. Just as Chris turned to kill Mercury, though, he was greeted by a boot to the face and sent falling over Emerald's body. The young man didn't even bother going after Maverick as he instantly ran from the cellar and into the open air.

"You alright?" Maverick asked as Chris stood with a hand covering his mouth, blood dripping from behind it and through his fingers.

"MPH-MPH!" was the only thing Chris could say as he chased after Mercury with Maverick following close behind. When the two emerged from the cellar, they were greeted by the sound of a rifle and a body falling to the ground outside the cellar. They looked around to the front of the tavern to see a large bullet hole in Mercury's chest and Chris's comrades running to the scene.

"Damn Ryan, nice shot," Maverick said, Ryan nodding his head with a cocky smirk before shifting focus to Chris holding a bloody hand over his mouth.

"What the hell-" Dallas began to ask before Chris removed his hand and opened his mouth, everyone around him either gagging or holding back vomit. That kick from Mercury not only stunned the young man but also shattered every tooth in his mouth!

"Dentist?" Ryan asked, Chris glaring at him in response before the men around him began leading him towards one of the various houses in the village.

"Oh hey, found this," Dallas said when he remembered something from when he and Ryan distracted the tavern owner, Chris glancing over to see what Dallas was talking about. In Dallas's hand was a black cloth with a skeleton's mouth design on the mouth.

"Legacy," Grace's voice said, startling the men around her when she spoke.

"...What?" all the men, except Chris due to him not wanting to speak to cause more pain, seemed to say in unison as their focus was directed at Grace.

"He's a legacy, which means a family member served in the White Fang before being killed," Grace replied as they began helping Chris towards a place where they could fix his teeth and possible dislocated jaw.

"How do you now that?" Maverick asked in suspicion, none of the men ready for what she had to say.

"I was in the White Fang...a long time ago," Grace replied when they reached a home, Dallas knocking on the door when they stood on the doorstep.


	14. Chapter 14

"So let me get this straight: you're fighting a war against the very people you once sided with. That sounds both risky due to your history with them and respectable now that you've joined the side not going around attacking anything human," Ryan said as he, Grace, Dallas, and Maverick waited outside the home they brought Chris to so his mouth could be fixed. Velvet was inside with him to make sure everything went alright while everyone was now on the subject of Grace's involvement with the White Fang.

"Yes, but I have my own reasons for leaving them," Grace said as she began trying to change the subject away from the one at hand.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then we'll leave it be," Dallas said as he helped Grace in trying to stop the conversation before it went any farther. Both Ryan and Maverick looked at one another before shrugging their shoulders and sitting quietly amongst themselves.

"OW, MOTHER-!" Chris's voice echoed from inside the home, the four sitting outside struggling to keep their voices down as they held back laughter.

"I tell ya, it looks like Chris has the worst luck when it comes to injuries. First he gets his eye shot out and now this," Maverick said as Ryan nodded his head in agreement. Just then, Velvet slowly opened the door and stepped outside to join the others waiting outside.

"Chris asked me to tell you and Dallas to come inside for a moment," Velvet said, Grace looking worriedly at Dallas for a moment before she slowly walked inside with Dallas following behind her. When they were inside, the looked around the dimly lit home for a moment before a flickering light was seen coming from one of the rooms down a hallway. The two proceeded down the hallway to see a small room where an elderly Faunus man was speaking to Chris as he sat in a chair next to a fireplace. The old Faunus man saw Dallas and Grace waiting and excused himself to allow the three some privacy.

"You wanted to see me?" Grace asked as she and Dallas slowly stepped into the room, Dallas making sure to stay close by the Faunus medic while they walking into the room.

"You said you were in the White Fang," Chris said as he stared into the fire in the fireplace while he spoke, Grace starting to shake nervously.

"Yes...But not anymore! I left them because-" Grace began to say before Chris suddenly stood from his chair next to the fireplace and began making his way towards her. Grace felt her heart sink to her stomach as he fear began reaching new levels while Dallas prepared to defend her. But to the two's surprise, Grace was suddenly pulled into a hug by the young man while Dallas sighed in relief.

"You've nothing to fear from me or anyone out there. You saved my ass, so as I see it I owe you," Chris said, Grace confused for a moment before she felt her emotions begin to build up until bursting with tears and burying her face into his shoulder.

"Chris's right. Since you're in the Vale Militia, you're one of us," Dallas said as Chris parted from the hug to allow Grace to hug the other man.

"You still have that skull bandana they gave you from the tavern owner?" Chris asked, Grace wiping her eyes before she dug around in her pocket and produced the cloth. Chris took the skull bandana and wrapped it around the area around his mouth before he gestured for the three of them to leave the home. But just as they were halfway in the hallway of the home, they suddenly heard what sounded like marching and motors roaring.

"Shit, more White Fang," Chris said as he, Grace, and Dallas began running outside just to be greeted by the sight of reinforcements from the Vale Militia already making their ways around the village.

"Took 'em long enough," Chris said as he and the rest of his comrades began making their ways towards the center of the village where it appeared the commanding officers of the massive group of reinforcements seemed to be setting up their operations. But as they made their ways towards the commanding officers, Dallas suddenly had an ill feeling as they approached.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked when she noticed the look on Dallas's face as they walked.

"I don't know...something feels-" Dallas began to say before he and Chris suddenly stopped dead in their tracks, everyone walking with them stopping and looking at them with confused looks on their faces.

"Son of a bitch," Chris muttered as he and Dallas spotted a well-dressed man among the officers with a familiar officer's sword and white hair.

"Well look who it is! The 'Heroes of the Vale Militia' have arrived! We found some tank treads from the bridge and followed them here," General Schnee said to the two men while they glared at him while he spoke.

"General Schnee, sir!" Grace said as she stood at attention like a new recruit would to any high-ranking officer, General Schnee smiling as he returned the salute before continuing to speak to the two men.

"See? She salutes me when I'm speaking to them, unlike you two," General Schnee said before he gestured for the three soldiers to follow him while Velvet and the others were forced to stay behind by two other militiamen.

"So why do you want to see us?" Chris asked just as they rounded a corner to a home to see a reporter taking various pictures of the men with their weapons and the tanks.

"A newspaper in Vale wants to see the three responsible for freeing that bridge. So that reporter is here to collect as much facts while get a picture of the three responsible for doing so!" General Schnee said as he called over the reporter to where the three soldiers stood with confused looks on their faces.

"Alright, you three look fine. But, can you remove that bandana for a moment so I can get a good smile from the three of you?" the reporter asked as he gestured to the skeleton bandana Chris wore over his face, the young man slowly pulling it down to his neck while his mouth was shut tightly.

"Come on, a little smile wouldn't kill you," the reporter said as he aimed the camera at the three, Chris looking at Dallas and Grace for a moment before returning his focus to the reporter. But when his teeth was shown, the reporter dropped the camera to the ground with a horrified look in his eyes. Chris no longer had normal teeth like his comrades and now had steel teeth in place of his knocked-out teeth.

"Holy shit," Dallas said as Grace gasped in horror at the sight, Chris flipping the reporter off before the three began making their ways back over to their comrades to get back to their tank. Velvet and the others were already waiting inside the barn with the tank while Ryan jumped down from the tank just as Chris came walking in with Grace and Dallas.

"What'd General Custer want?" Ryan asked as Chris made his way towards the tank to get in, stopping in his tracks when he looked up at the tank's main gun.

"Don't care about that idiotic excuse for a leader, more focused on that," Chris said as he gestured to what looked like writing on the tank's main gun that read 'Pyrrha's Revenge'.

"Just a little addition to the tank before we get going," Maverick said with a laugh as the group began boarding the tank.

"I like it," Chris said with a smile that showed his steel teeth to those in the group who hadn't seen them yet, giving the same reaction the reporter gave Chris when they saw them. Chris noticed their looks and just shook his head before pulling the skull bandana back over his mouth to shield them from the world.

"Hope you all like snow, because looks like winter's rolling in fast," Chris said as he turned the tank on and began driving out the doors to the barn and back towards the crossroads outside the village, snow already starting to lightly fall from the sky.

"Dammit, I hate snow," Ryan said as he climbed deeper into the tank while Maverick just laughed.


	15. Chapter 15

It only took but a few hours for the vast land of Vacuo to be covered in sheets of snow and ice that slowed the movements of both armies to complete halts. The road conditions made it difficult for transport vehicles to bring more supplies to the line while the men themselves struggled to keep warm. Chris and his comrades linked up with the rest of the Vale Militia when they set up a defensive line that stretched for about 3 miles in a rural area where they believed the White Fang had also set up defensive positions. But due to both sides hiding in the trees and snow, no one dared to attack the other in fear of being ambushed by the enemy. Where Chris and the others were located on the line, there was a small clearing between the two lines and the trees they hid amongst. The soldiers of the Vale Militia had dug small foxholes to make themselves less of a target instead of standing in the open amongst the trees. Tanks were also among the line but were mainly used as support when the enemy attacked. This was due to the fact of the state the treads of the tanks were in. They weren't able to move without getting stuck in the snow and mud around them. Even if they could move it still wouldn't help in their effort due to how the White Fang had spread out their forces in hopes to confuse the Vale Militia. In the earlier days, attempts were made to break through the line that resulted in many casualties and loss of the only tanks that had working treads. Due to the massive number of casualties sustained from the failed attack, more reinforcements were called to the line. This lead to fresh recruits that were straight out of training to be thrown into the worst the war had to offer up to this point. To Velvet's utmost sadness, some of the new recruits were once students at Beacon like she once was.

"We're supposed to get a new truckload of recruits in a few hours," Dallas said as he and Chris walked through the woods during the early morning on their side of the line, far enough away from the enemy and the front line that allowed them to do so.

"Great, another bunch of kids to scream for their mothers when the bullets start flying," Chris grumbled as he stopped for a moment to take a drink from his canteen he filled with hot coffee.

"We weren't any better when we first started fighting," Dallas said with a laugh, Chris laughing slightly before he sipped the coffee and handed it to Dallas for him to drink.

"But we were in the deep shit, such as: random attacks, mortar barrages, assassins sneaking into our camps and killed men in their sleeps, and running low on supplies to survive out there," Chris said after Dallas handed him his canteen back before they continued.

"They've gotta be exposed to it sooner or later, but I bet you give them a good scare when they see you!" Dallas said as he nudged Chris, the young man placing a hand over his eyepatch before dragging his tongue across his steel teeth.

"All this shows is what this war does to people," Chris replied coldly as he fumbled around in one of his pockets for a pack of cigarettes, Dallas pulling out a pack of his own to give to Chris. Campfire began to grow scarce on the Vale Militia's side due to the wood being wet from ice and snow, leading soldiers to begin resorting to smoking packs upon packs of cigarettes to keep warm.

"Thanks," Chris said as he placed a cigarette in his mouth before Dallas lit it with a lighter.

"I thought Velvet hated it when you smoked," Dallas said as Chris took a big puff from the cigarette before blowing the smoke into the air above him before he replied.

"She does, but I think I earned it after all I've been through," Chris said as they continued to walk back to where their comrades were waiting for them.

"Speaking of which, where's Velvet?" Dallas asked when he realized he hadn't seen her all morning.

"She's with a group of soldiers passing out rations to the men on the line," Chris replied as he continued to smoke from the cigarette while they walked.

"Ha, she a real 'Angel of the Battlefield'," Dallas said, Chris nodding his head in response. Chris nodded his head as the sight of their tank came into view along with what looked like a small fire beside the tank with three figures gathering around it.

Ryan was bundled up in a military trench coat and sported a sour look on his face while Maverick was showing Grace the various features on his Falchion-style sword.

"I...hate...snow," Ryan shivered while Maverick and Grace simply laughed at the young man's sour outlook on the cold weather.

"Good to see your attitude hasn't changed since we left," Chris said as he flicked the butt of the cigarette into the small fire Ryan had made to warm himself while Dallas made his way over to Maverick and Grace.

"Velvet still not back from passing out rations?" Chris asked as he sat across from Ryan at the fire, Ryan holding a small box that read 'food rations' on the front.

"Just missed her. She said she'll be done in 10 minutes or so," Ryan said as he opened the box and pulled a small package of crackers before tossing it to Chris.

"I don't like this at all. Almost a week without a single shot being fired, almost like they're waiting to draw us out," Chris said as he looked out towards the enemy position.

"A week of doing nothing but pissing in snow," Ryan complained as he began eating the crackers, trying not to gag at the stale flavor of them. But just as Chris was about to say something the sound of running footsteps in the snow was heard approaching their position. Chris quickly drew his revolver as he turned to face the source of the sound, holstering the gun when he saw who it was. But after he holstered it he soon looked worried when he saw the look on Velvet's face as she ran towards them.

"Velvet, what's wrong?" Chris asked when Velvet reached their position, her face flustered as she tried catching her breath before she spoke.

"It's...*pant*...my team!" Velvet exclaimed, Chris looking at everyone else before the sight of three approaching silhouettes in the snow and tree caught Chris's attention...


	16. Chapter 16

Just as Velvet had said, her three teammates were indeed coming towards their position. But instead of wearing the apparel of the Vale Militia they were wearing their normal Huntsman apparel like they wore back at Beacon. This had Chris confused for a moment before Cocoa began to speak to the various soldiers gathered around the small campfire next to the tank while Fox and Yatsu stood by her.

"Velvet, why are you wearing those old rags? Didn't you hear the announcement from the Vale Militia leaders themselves?" Cocoa asked, both Velvet and Chris glanced at each other with confused looks for a moment before returning their focus to Cocoa. The Huntress began digging around in her pocket for a moment before producing a folded, official-looking piece of paper with the Vale Militia insignia on the front of it. Chris grabbed the paper from her hand and began unfolding the paper to read the contents so he could see for himself what the news was. He was silent as his eyes skimmed the writing on the paper while everyone around him were silent with anticipation. But when he finished reading, he let his arms fall to his sides and the paper fall to the snow beneath his feet while his face showed a sort of depression that anyone could tell he was trying to hide. Velvet was confused for a moment before Grace picked up the paper to see what had suddenly change Chris's mood to one of sadness.

The paper read:

 _In recent weeks, it had come to our attention that previous Huntsmen who had once attended Beacon Academy were now being forced to fight in our war against the White Fang. While some were glad to do so, others were hesitant to pick up arms and take the life of another. And after many and many discussions and debates we have finally reached a new decision that will alter the fate of the young men and women Huntsmen fighting within our ranks. They will no longer be apart of the infantry, tank divisions, attack planes, and other military jobs within the Vale Militia. They will now be allowed to now return to their homes and their families. But if they would like to continue to aid in the fight against the White Fang then they will be permitted to with their teams from Beacon._

 _Signed, General Schnee_

"THAT SON OF A FUCKING WHORE!" Chris yelled as he kicked the treads of the tank in a fit of pure fury. Grace was left speechless after reading the letter aloud to the others while Chris continued to kick the snow and mud around him as his rage continued to grow. Velvet was left to combat both her feelings of being relieved about not being apart of the war anymore and leaving behind her friends. Chris was just now starting to calm down from his warpath and collect his thoughts.

"It's...better this way. You won't have to go through this hell anymore," Chris said, everyone but Velvet's teammates becoming shocked at his words.

"What 'hell' are you guys going through this cold? We've been here for a few days now and nothings happened," Cocoa said, both Dallas and Chris giving her a death stare. Without warning Chris suddenly grabbed Cocoa by the collar of her shirt and threw her to the tank before getting only inches from her face.

"You wanna know what hell we went through? Take a good fucking look at me! The worst part is, I don't even have the worst job here!" Chris growled as Cocoa was able to push Chris away for her long enough to get away from him. Just then, a shot whizzed by Chris and ricocheted off the tank and into a tree only inches from Velvet and Cocoa.

"HIT THE DECK!" Chris yelled as the treeline on the other side of the snow covered field erupted in machine gun fire. Everyone was either trying to get as low as they could on the ground or hiding behind the trees and tank. The soldiers on the Vale Militia line who had dug foxholes quickly jumped into them and began preparing their guns to return fire. Chris reloaded his Thompson and began shooting while Dallas ran to one of the foxholes dug around their position, set up his .50 cal, and began shooting bursts of shots at the enemy position. Grace was grabbed by Ryan and Maverick and taken back away from the shooting and deeper in the woods of their side of the battlefield.

"MORTARS!" Dallas yelled when he heard the distinct whistling of a falling mortar shot, taking his .50 cal and jumping out of his foxhole just in time for a mortar shot to blow up the foxhole he was just in. The mortars that hit the trees blew up and sent shards of wood everywhere and trees falling on soldiers running around to avoid the mortars or being shot. Chris was on the ground shooting his Thompson when he turned and began crawling back towards the back of the tank to get better cover so he could reload. When he arrived, he saw that it wasn't just him hiding behind the tank. Velvet and her team were back there along with Dallas as he was reloading his .50 cal to use once more.

"Figures they start shooting when we're all comfortable," Dallas grumbled as he cock the machine gun once more and began shooting at the enemy.

"Hell, I was waiting on 'em all morning!" Chris said with a laugh as he reloaded his gun as well and began shooting back.

"CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!" a voice yelled from their side as Chris and Dallas stopped shooting their guns, both sides seeming to cease the shooting as well. The mortars had also stopped falling which also granted enough silence for it to be broken by a man crying out in pain.

"MEDIC! GET OVER THERE!" a voice called out to Grace, who appeared running back to the line and off towards where the sound of the cries of pain were coming from. Ryan and Maverick arrived back at Chris and Dallas's position with relieved expressions on their faces. They had thought, from how close the screams were coming from, were coming from either Dallas or Chris. But now that the shooting had stopped Ryan was able to ask a question that had been bothering him for a few minutes now.

"Hey, Chris. Who has the worst job here?" Ryan asked as Grace's voice suddenly called for Chris and Dallas to come help her. Without missing a beat, the two men and Ryan took off running towards where Grace was and needed their help. When they arrived they saw the medic with her hands already stained in blood and a soldier with his leg completely blown off already bandaged but still groaning in pain. But the reason she'd called them over was to help a man out from under a tree that had fallen on his foxhole, the man under the tree suffering from mortar shrapnel to his torso and a bullet wound to his shoulder.

"Get the tree off so I can get to him," Grace said, Chris and Dallas nodding their heads as they grabbed the tree and began pulling it off the soldier pinned in the foxhole. When the tree was completely moved Grace quickly sprang into action and pulled the man out of the foxhole to attend to his wounds.

"Ryan, I need you to put pressure here," Grace said as Ryan knelt down beside the wounded man to help. Ryan did as he was told as Grace handed him a piece of cloth to hold down where she quickly removed a piece of shrapnel. The wounded man began crying out as tears streamed down his face from the pain he was suffering.

"Am...I gonna die? I don't wanna die," the soldier began groaning as Grace began working faster to stop the bleeding from the various wounds from the shrapnel of the mortar.

"You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be fine," Grace said as she gave the man morphine before she took the man's hand and held it tightly, her other hand trembling as she used the blood on her hand to write a letter on the man's forehead.

'F'.

Ryan was confused for a moment as Grace held the cloth over the wound while she still held the man's hand. Ryan stood to his feet when Chris and Dallas arrived to where the three were.

"What does 'F' mean?" Ryan asked.

"Fatality," Chris replied quietly as to not let the wounded man hear him but coldly to show how serious it was. Just then, the man's sobs of pain suddenly began to lessen until his grip on Grace's hand holding his hand suddenly loosened. His eyes were wide open and filled with tears as they looked to the sky with soullessness and death.

"You asked who had the worst job here? You're looking at it," Chris said as Grace gestured for Dallas and Chris to grab the man's body while Ryan helped the legless soldier up. But as they began taking the two back to the camp, Ryan glanced back to see Grace wiping the blood off her hands before wiping the tears from her eyes...


	17. Chapter 17

"Alright, set him down here," a medic said as Ryan set the soldier who's leg had been severed from his body from the mortar explosion onto a small cot inside the medical tent. Dallas and Chris, on the other hand, were carrying the body of the soldier towards a large truck that carried the dead away from the battlefield to be shipped home for burial. When they were finished they met Ryan outside of the medical tent after he dropped off the wounded man.

"Whoa, Chris," Ryan said as he gestured to the young man's Thompson, Chris looking at the gun to see a large piece of shrapnel in the receiver of the machine gun. He just shook his head as he unloaded the magazine of ammo from the gun before making his way over to a tent where they kept spare/broken weapons. The man standing at the entrance to the tent was surprised at the piece of shrapnel lodged in the Thompson's receiver before laughing.

"Damn son, you're one lucky bastard," the man said with a laugh as he took the Thompson from Chris before walking back into the tent behind him to grab his replacement weapon. After a few minutes the man came walking back with an M1 Garand and a bayonet in a sheath for the rifle.

"Due to ammo shortage out here, you'll be better off with this," the man said as he handed Chris the M1 Garand and the ammo. But Chris said nothing as he accepted the rifle and ammo and began walking back with Dallas and Ryan towards where the rest of their friends were still positioned on the line.

"Don't trash it...give it to someone named 'Velvet', that rabbit Faunus with brown hair," Chris said as he gestured to the Thompson, the man nodding his head in understanding before walking back into the tent to begin repairs.

"Hey, you Chris?" an unfamiliar voice called to Chris, the young man turning to see who was calling for him. It looked to be a male wolf Faunus with charcoal grey hair (definitely not of old age) shaved into a jarhead cut, five o'clock shadow facial hair, sky blue eyes that looked as if they'd seen Hell, and a slightly pale but tan complexion that was accompanied with a slightly thin but muscular build. He was armed with a BAR rifle but didn't look to be wearing the same uniform as the Vale Militia soldiers around him. He looked to be wearing camouflage BDU and gear like that of a different army altogether.

"Who the hell are you?" Chris asked as he gestured for Dallas and Ryan to head on back while he spoke to the Faunus man.

"Gunnery Sargent Jordan, or 'Sarge' for short," the Faunus man replied as he reached into one of the various pockets on his person and pulled a small pack of smokes and a zippo lighter. He then placed one of the cigarettes into his mouth and lit it before offering one to Chris. The young man nodded his head as he accepted the cigarette and the courtesy light from the man before the two began walking together to talk.

"You don't look like one of ours," Chris said as he looked over Sarge's gear once more, the Faunus man laughing in response to the statement.

"You'd be right on that. I _was_ with the Vacuo Marines before all this started to happen," Sarge said as he gestured all around him as they continued through the trees and snow. Chris just nodded his head as he took a long puff of the cigarette and blew the smoke into the air.

"Damn, I guess getting help from them is out of the question since you're here," Chris said in disappointment as the unspoken fact was easily known between them. It wasn't hard to figure out that the White Fang must've gotten their weapons after somehow overpowering Vacuo's own military. This must've been the source of Sarge's eyes seeming to show he'd seen the worst of this war and all that was yet to come. They didn't speak the rest of the long walk back to the team's position and simply kept to themselves. But as they walked through the snow a certain sight caught Chris's eye and made him stop in his tracks.

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up," Chris said to Sarge, who nodded his head in response and continued towards where Chris's team were gathered. Meanwhile, Chris began heading deeper into the woods towards a clearing he'd spotted to do something that had been bothering him for quite some time. The area he was walking towards looked to be a small pond frozen from the weather in a grove of trees. When he arrived at the grove, he inspected the trees further to see what kind they were. He laughed after he inspected the bark and figured out what kind of trees they were using as cover.

"Cherry blossoms, just like you used to like," Chris seemed to say aloud as if he was talking to someone as he reached into one of the compartments of his uniform to produce both Pyrrha's sword and crown she wore with her Huntress armor. He then began finding it strange that the sight of such horror could take place at the sight of potential beauty. But he didn't take too much time in thinking about this as he made his way over to one of the trees that began to arch over the pond. When he reached the base of the tree, he took Pyrrha's sword and stabbed it into the earth next to the roots before resting the crown on the hilt of the weapon. He then removed his helmet and took a knee in front of the makeshift memorial before he began to speak once more.

"I...don't know if you can hear me or if you're listening. I just wanna say...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you like I promised mom and dad, sorry I couldn't be the hero like you used to call me growing up," Chris said as tears began to form and stream down his cheeks. He then reached down into his pocket and produced the small skull bandana he'd taken from a White Fang agent at the village he and the others had visited not too long ago. He looked at the skull jawline design on it for a moment before he tied it to the lower half of his face.

"You're probably ashamed of me for what I've done in this war and I wouldn't blame you. And I bet you're probably not even listening because I haven't spoken to you in so long, but there's some hope that maybe you are hearing me. Like mom always said, 'No one's dead unless you forget about them'. I'm gonna get whoever did this to you, Pyrrha. I swear this on my life!" Chris said before he stood back to his feet, put his helmet back on, bid one final farewell to the memorial, and began heading back to where his team were waiting for him.

Kilamaverta- **Sarge**


	18. Chapter 18

"Geez, you guys don't waste time when it comes to sleep," Chris said with a slight laugh when he arrived back at the camp to see everyone but Grace asleep in foxholes they had dug. A small campfire was lit next to the group's tank and kept low enough so it wouldn't catch the attention of enemy White Fang soldiers only a football field's length away from them.

"Could you blame them? It's been a hectic day. First that ambush and..." Grace began to say before she caught herself halfway, it not mattering due to how Chris lowered his eyes to the snow.

"Yeah, I know. But, like I said, it's better that she's out of here and not staring at death every second," Chris said as she sat down next to the campfire with Grace.

"I volunteered for first watch, so why don't you get some sleep?" Grace asked as she gestured to a foxhole they had dug for Chris to sleep in when he came back. But Chris just shook his head as he glanced off towards the enemy's position.

"I haven't been able to sleep in weeks, so it'd be pointless to try now," Chris grumbled as he reached to grab his canteen just to find it gone. He shook his head before Grace handed Chris her own canteen to drink the water from it.

"No one really sleeps out here, they just sit there with their eyes shut and wait for the next gunshot to come," Grace said as she yawned to herself and rubbed her eyes.

"Why don't you get some sleep. You look like you're about to pass out," Chris said as he handed Grace her canteen back before she began making her way towards the free foxhole to sleep in. It didn't take long for the young Faunus woman to slip into a peaceful sleep. Now it was just Chris awake at his team's position with a campfire that wasn't too bright to give away his position but not too dim to leave him in the dark. He reached into his pocket, produced a pack of cigarettes with a zippo, and lit the cigarette after he placed it in his mouth. He felt the warmth of the burning tobacco before he blew the large cloud of smoke into the air. Grace hated it when Chris smoked around them and always seemed to nag him about it. It was bad enough that he was missing an eye, had his teeth kicked it, and had various other scars from previous skirmishes but she always said the cigarettes would kill him just as well as a White Fang's rifle. After a few minutes of smoking he tossed the cigarette butt into the snow and continued to stare into the fire. Suddenly, he thought he heard the sound of snow shifting under footsteps come from behind him. He acted as if he had't heard it while he secretly began reaching for the combat knife he kept in his boot. As fast as he could, he suddenly whipped around and threw the knife towards the sound of the approaching footprints. He heard what sounded like the blade stabbing into something before the sound of something falling to the snow was heard in his ears. Chris shot to his feet with his M1 Garand gripped tightly in his arms as he stared out into the darkness in front of him and around the campfire. He suddenly remembered something that he had holstered on his belt for emergencies and began reaching for it. Chris had produced a flare gun some of the soldiers were given to signal for help or to light up the darkness. He aimed the flare gun into the air and fired the shot that was made to light up the darkness. After a few second, the flare shot into the air exploded to cast a light over the forest around him. His heart nearly skipped a beat as he was given a clear view of White Fang soldiers creeping through the snow and now only a few feet away from Chris himself!

"AMBUSH!" Chris yelled just as the sight of a rocket fired from the White Fang's side soared across the battlefield and through their own ranks. The rocket was a direct hit on the tank and turned the tank into a flaming pile of charred steel and twisted metal. But, unfortunately, the explosion from the tank sent Chris flying through the air and straight into a tree. His helmet blocked the tree from actually hitting his head while the force was enough to make him lose consciousness.

 _"CHRIS, GET UP! CHRIS!"_

 _"SURRENDER, VALE MILITIA SCUM!"_

 _"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME, SHITHEADS!"_

* * *

The sky above the battlefield was covered in the black smoke of a burning forest along with the silence that could only be brought upon by horrible events. The dead bodies stretched on for miles upon miles as the crows already began to take their fill on the dead flesh left for them. One crow had just settled its talons onto the body of a soldier resting near a tree when it was suddenly grabbed by the soldier's hand.

"Peck me again and I'll stuff you in a cuckoo-clock," Chris growled as he released the crow from his grip, the black bird quickly fluttering away to put distance between it and the soldier. Chris rubbed his head where he felt like something was burning the side of his head. When he pulled his hand away from his head, it was crimson red with blood. There were two large gashes that started at the right side of his forehead and went nearly to the back of his head (like the head wound on BJ Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein). Besides that, Chris's helmet looked like someone had dropped a bowling ball onto the top of it. Chris began to stare down at the ground around his boots as he began to take in the full situation, and the full situation was: the new recruits had met gruesome ends, the White Fang had crushed them, and his comrades were now hostages to the White Fang bastards. For the first time since he first heard of his sister's death, Chris truly felt defeated.

"No, not this time. I'm not gonna let anyone die on my hands," Chris said as he began to ready his gear, tore part of a dead soldier's uniform to use as a bandage for his head wound, and grabbed another helmet from the ground before proceeding off towards where the Vale Militia camp was located. Hopefully, not everyone had shared the same grim fate as those out there on the battlefield.

"Hell, I'd settle for General Schnee at this point," Chris muttered to himself as he continued through the snow, unaware that a pair of watchful eyes studied his every movement.


	19. Chapter 19

**Before some people read this chapter (this goes to those who don't know about the change in the previous chapter I made), go back and read the last part of the chapter.**

"I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you're still alive," General Schnee said as Chris entered the battered and beaten tent he used as his quarters.

General Schnee may have been at the back of the attack, but his uniform was stained with dirt and blood and looked like he'd been through Hell itself. His rapier was stained with blood from enemy soldier's and his Mauser pistol he'd received from home looked as if it'd seen better days.

"Likewise, sir. But what's the situation?" Chris asked as he took a seat across the table General Schnee was sitting at, the general rubbing the dirt from his face to keep it out of his eyes.

"1,500 new recruits were sent here to reinforce the line, less than 100 are at this camp. That leaves 1,400 either dead or unaccounted for," General Schnee said as he began introducing the problems facing the survivors of the massacre, Chris shaking his head as he heard more of the news.

"Ammo has become scarce, so we've switched to the Lee Enfield rifles they gave you all during training. Lighter and easier to load, we can use our bayonets with them, and ammo is being saved by the bolt-action feature," General Schnee said as he reached down behind his chair to produce a Lee Enfield rifle for Chris to have, the soldier accepting the rifle before General Schnee handed him a few handful of bullets.

"My officers are all dead or too scared shitless to do anything. And to make matters worse, my scouts have intercepted plans for another wave of White Fang to attack," General Schnee said to complete the summary of the situation to Chris, who now had his head in his hands.

"What about my team?" Chris asked when he remembered what he heard before he lost consciousness before the battle started.

"Don't worry, they're here at the camp. Dallas was plowing through those sons-of-bitches and Sarge was acting as if this was nothing but target practice. Grace is with the wounded right now with a group of Huntsmen that were caught up in the firefight. My little sister knows them so they're trustworthy," General Schnee said as Chris stood from the chair with the Lee Enfield slung over his back. Chris gave one final salute before he headed out of the tent to meet up with his teammates. But as he walked through the camp, he realized how General Schnee's words couldn't compare to actually seeing the situation in person. The camp had set up a wall of sandbags and anything else they could find that would offer protection against enemy advances, the remaining soldier looked to be mostly new recruits with barely any combat experience (besides the ordeal they had just experienced), and the medical tent in the center of the base was filled with wounded. Just as he looked over at the medical tent, a familiar Faunus woman emerged from the tent with a large bucket of bloody water she tossed a good distance away from her. She wore a large apron over her uniform stained with blood while the gloves she wore were a dark crimson hue. Grace was just about to walk back into the medical tent when her eyes caught the familiar sight of a eye-patch wearing soldier. Without thinking, she dropped the bucket to the ground, threw off the apron and gloves, and ran over to him to embrace him in a hug. Tears streamed down her face as she buried her face in Chris's shoulder while he hugged her tightly.

"I can't believe you made it! We tried to get you out of there, but there were too many of them advancing on our position," Grace said when they parted from the hug, Chris wiping away some of her tears with his hand.

"Hey, I'm here ain't I?" Chris said with a laugh, the two laughing for a moment before Grace noticed the makeshift bandages Chris had on the side of his head. She placed a hand on the side of his head and got all she needed from how Chris winced in pain. Grace began reaching into a medic satchel she had at her side before Chris put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Keep the bandages and morphine for the ones that need it, I'm fine," Chris said as he gestured to the medical tent behind them, Grace nodding her head as she took her hand out of the medic satchel. But before the two could speak anymore, a familiar teen came rushing out of the medical tent to call Grace back inside. Jaune, to be exact, was the one who called Grace's attention back to the wounded inside. The teen had ditched his hoodie and armor and was now wearing the standard uniform of the Vale Militia with a medic armband on his right arm.

"You got him to be a medic?" Chris asked with the few moments he had left with Grace before she went back.

"When the White Fang attacked, he and his friends were caught in the crossfire. Jaune helped me with the wounded, Ruby and Nora were running to and from the camp to deliver ammo and supplies for the ones defending the line, and Ren was among the recon team sent to scout the enemy camp to see what we're dealing with," Grace said as she turned and began walking back into the tent. Chris waved goodbye to her before he continued to tour the perimeter of the camp to fully understand the situation at hand. But what he saw next would crush any man's moral if they were unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of such a sight...the graves.


	20. Chapter 20

There were so many.

Rifles stabbed into the ground bayonet-first and helmet resting on stocks of the rifles as well. Dog tags hung from each rifle to identify the graves of the poor souls. There were soldiers paying their respects at various graves that belonged to the ones they knew. Chris removed his own helmet as a sign of respect and saluted the mass of graves before him.

"You see the devastation of the battlefield and you tell yourself, 'It won't ever happen again.' Yet here I am, once more, with thousands of dead soldiers on my hands. Not a night goes by where I don't wish it was me in those graves instead of a young man who just turned 18," General Schnee said as he made his way through the snow to stand by Chris at the edge of the graveyard.

"It's war, sir, if it weren't here then they might have died somewhere else," Chris sighed as he put his helmet back on his head and proceeded away from the graveyard, General Schnee following behind him.

"That's a poor way to look at it, but you may be right. But this isn't why I caught up with you...it was because of this," General Schnee said as he revealed a letter hidden inside his officer's uniform. The seal on the letter looked to be of the Vale Militia, meaning came from the leaders of the Vale Militia themselves.

"Command says that Atlas has decided to aid in our fight by supplying us with new weapons and gear. With the new gear, we'll be able to push our ways through the enemy line even harder than before. This means that we need to return back to Vale to retrieve our gear and get as much rest as we all can," General Schnee said as he revealed the letter to Chris, who eyed it for a moment before he handed it back to the general.

"Sorry to break this to you, sir, but if we leave the line now then we'll lose the ground we've taken already," Chris said as he began looking around in the various pockets of his uniform to find a pack of cigarettes that might still have smokes inside.

"That's been taken care of along with the White Fang's phony 'final attack'. I sent a runner to head back to one of the more well connected and supplied bases a few miles back to radio in an airstrike on coordinates we gave him to use. The planes should be here any minute now along with the trucks to take you boys home," General Schnee as he produced two large cigars, handing one to Chris while he placed one into his mouth. Chris didn't need to be told twice as he gladly accepted the cigar and the light from General Schnee's lighter. Just as Chris blew a cloud of smoke into the air above him, the faint roar of plane engines came from behind their position. The two looked up just in time to see the bombers fly above them while the soldiers in the camp cheered wildly and loudly in celebration of the imminent bombing run. Along with the roar of the plane engines there was the familiar sound of large trucks heading towards the position to both relieve the men on guard and transport the wounded back to Vale for treatment.

"I'm guessing the runner made it back," Chris said with a laugh, General Schnee smiling and shaking his head in response. Almost exactly when General Schnee finished shaking his head the bombs began to drop on the enemy position. It started off as bright flashes of light in the darkness before the sound echoed towards their position. Fire began to shine brightly from the enemy's position, embers floating lightly into the sky above. The medics, the wounded who could walk, and other soldiers who were in tents began walking out of them to see the sight for themselves. The light flickering in the distance and the faint explosions seemed to pull them in like a trance. It was strange to think that the enemy who had caused so much devastation to them only hours ago were now being completely obliterated by a single wave of planes. Their trances were broken when the trucks finally arrived at the camp, soldiers in the new gear jumping from the backs of the transport trucks to make room for the wounded and those being taken off the line. The new gear resembled US Army uniform from Vietnam along with weapons from the same era as well.

"Head on back, Chris, you deserve it. I think your friends are already loading up over there," General Schnee said, Chris looking over to see a transport truck already packing up to leave. General Schnee and a few soldiers around them busted into laughter when Chris began chasing after the truck as it began to drive away. Dallas and Sarge were resting on the seats at the back of the truck where they were given a perfect view of Chris stumbling after the truck, the two men laughing loudly while the others in the truck looked to see what was so funny ,the others laughing loudly as well when they saw the sight.

"LAUGH ALL YOU WANT ASSHOLES, I SURVIVED AND EXPLOSION AND I CAN SURE AS HELL CATCH UP TO A FUCKING TRUCK!" Chris yelled over the engine as Sarge held out a hand to help Chris get onto the truck. When Chris was finally close enough, Sarge grabbed Chris's outstretched hand and hoisted him onto the back of the truck to ride the rest of the way back to Vale. Everyone was still laughing as Chris laid on the floor of the back of the truck, panting and wheezing loudly for all to hear.

"Dang, either my gear weighed me down like that or I'm just out of shape," Chris said after a few moment of wheezing and gasping for air, causing more laughter to come from his comrades in the truck. Finally, after so long of bloodshed, they were finally heading back towards a place where you didn't have to constantly be on your guard...

...at least for a while, anyway.


	21. Chapter 21

**...Part 2...**

Chris sat silently in the chair outside one of the Vale Militia's many psychiatric doctors inside a hospital in Vale with his hands resting calmly in his lap and his knee bouncing up and down rapidly. He wore his formal military attire (US Marines) with the hat resting in the empty chair next to him. Each soldier who had exceeded over 5 solid months in combat where to report to psychiatrists to complete a series of questions to determine if they were still fit for combat or more time away from the front. Chris hated hospitals. He hated the sounds of patients groaning in pain, the sounds of surgical equipment powering up to amputate a severely injured GI's arm or leg, and the faint buzzing of the florescent light above him. Originally, there were four others waiting with Chris outside the doctor's office and now he was the last patient of the day. From what Chris could tell, three out of the four were given more time away from the battlefield. How did he determine this? Simple: three left smiling and walking a bit taller while one walked out as if he were a prisoner on his way to be executed. Chris now sat alone in silence in the middle of the hospital hallway, alone with his thoughts. The buzzing of the light above him seemed to slowly grow louder and louder with every passing second before suddenly a new sound entered his mind.

The sound of rifles firing.

The roar of artillery leveling ground.

The purr of tanks and the treads rolling through the mud and blood of a battlefield.

The heat of flames from a flamethrower as it burned the enemy.

" _You couldn't save her...you let her die...you failed her...you let her die..._ " a voice whispered in Chris ear, making him whip his head in the direction he thought it came from.

"No...I...I didn't know she was in danger," Chris muttered as if he was talking to the whisper in his ears.

" _You let her die...it's your fault she died... **YOU LET ME DIE**!_ " the whisper continued, the last part sounding like a horrid shriek of a woman's voice that made Chris clasp his hands over his ears and wince in pain with his eyes shut tightly.

"Lt. Nikos? The doctor will see you now," a nurse said as she stepped out of the office with a clipboard to check if he was present. Chris opened his eyes to see a nurse standing in front of him with a kind smile and in a white nurse's uniform that almost seemed to make her glow in the light as if she were an angel.

"Oh...okay," Chris said as he slowly stood from the chair, dawned his officer's cap that covered the large gash scars on the side of his head, and made his way into the psychiatrist's office to go through the questioning. The psychiatrist's office was a relatively large one with a large window that overlooked the city of Vale from the top floor of the hospital with a large and, quite expensive, desk sat in the center with the doctor reading over various files and documents as he entered. The sound of the door closing behind Chris grabbed the doctor's attention away from a file he'd been reading and to the soldier. The psychiatric doctor looked to be only a few years older than Chris with short auburn hair kept clean and trimmed neatly, hazel eyes, and a pale complexion from hours of staying indoors.

"Have a...Wait, _your_ still in the ranks with that?" the doctor asked as he gestured to Chris's eyepatch over his left eye.

"I have a procedure, if I pass this test, to get a robotic eye from Atlas," Chris replied as he lifted up the eyepatch to reveal his scarred eye that made the doctor wince and shiver in disgust.

"Yes, yes, very well...shall we get started?" the doctor asked as he gestured for Chris to take a seat in a chair adjacent to the doctor's desk. Chris nodded his head as he sat quietly down in the seat and awaited the doctor to begin the questioning.

"Alright, question one: Do you hear voices?"

' _You let her die...everyone knows...even he knows...'_

"No," Chris lied.

"Good. Question two: Do you hear sounds that no one else can hear?"

 _The rifles firing...the artillery roaring...the flames incinerating all in its path..._

"Nope," Chris lied, once again.

"Very nice, you're doing very well. Third question: Do the faces you've killed haunt you?"

"If they didn't, you wouldn't be human," Chris replied honestly while the doctor nodded his head in agreement.

"Only monsters kill without remorse. I'd be worried if they didn't after reading your file and your confirm kills-" the doctor began to say.

"You have that list?" Chris asked with a hint of surprise.

"It came with your medical history and family background. I'm sorry about your sister, Mr. Nikos, she was a hero," the doctor said.

"Thanks, but what about the confirmed kills? What's the number?" Chris asked.

"Let me see...Ah, here we are: 67 confirmed, 124 speculated," the doctor replied. Chris was shocked, to say the least, to hear that large of a number from both confirmed and speculated.

"One last thing, lieutenant, and it's pretty important...You're a terrible liar," the doctor said in a serious tone and a stern look that caught Chris off guard.

"You expect me to believe that a man with your combat experience, time in battle, and those scars to actually believe you're mentally unscathed. I spoke with Grace, your team's medic, and she told me how you toss and turn in your sleep along with speaking. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even let you out of Vale. But my word has been overruled by General Schnee on one condition: you be assigned a guard," the psychiatrist said as he suddenly pushed a button on a small device on his desk to signal to the nurse. Just then, the door to the office opened and revealed a young fox Faunus man of about 18 with red tannish skin, black hair, and brown eyes. He wore apparel that reminded Chris of General Ironwood which probably meant that he was with Atlas. He looked authoritative with a stern look that went well with his uniform and rank.

"Lieutenant Nikos, this is Nave Fox-Croft of the 104th Atlas Marines. I've assigned him to watch over you when you return to combat. Now, go prep for the surgery to get your new eye," the doctor said as he gestured for Chris and Nave to head out of his office. The minute the two men stepped out into the hallway, Chris was stopped by Nave placing a hand on his chest to halt him in his path.

"General Schnee has instructed me to make sure you don't lose your cool out on the battlefield. So let me get one thing clear: If you lose it out there and jeopardize the team, I will put you down like a dog," Nave said as he gestured to his weapon. Nave's weapon appeared to be a katana-shotgun hybrid weapon, which definitely meant that he was no ordinary soldier like Chris was.

"Let me get my damn eye before you threaten to murder me," Chris said as he shoved past the Atlas officer and made his way towards the surgery wing of the hospital.

 **Nave Fox-Croft: ZEF the Fox**


	22. Chapter 22

The leaders of the Vale Militia couldn't have chosen a worse time to send troops back into Vacuo. It was still winter and the snow had gone from manageable slush to freezing rain that made everything wet and miserable. Mud made traction impossible for military trucks and tanks to come through, leaving the soldiers to travel on foot and without fire support. The small forests and woods were soon replaced with small towns and villages that caused urban combat to become an everyday occurrence. On the days that the roads weren't too muddy to drive on or solid roads made of stone were found, soldiers were quickly transported and brought deeper into Vacuo and right back into the action.

* * *

The Vale Militia had managed to push the White Fang farther back into the territory than when they had been a few months back. Although they once fought in a rural forest area, they now fought in a nearly flat terrain that lacked any presence of trees or vegetation because of the shelling and fighting from the two opposing sides. Once grassy fields of farmlands and pastures were now bloody fields of mud scattered with barbed wire, half submerged bodies in rain filled craters or slowly sinking into the mud, and the trenches of the two fighting forces. A foggy mist were a normal everyday sight on the battlefield and acted like a curtain between the two opposing positions. Dark storm clouds always seemed to loom over the battlefield as the soldier of the Vale Militia began to forget when the last time they had felt the warmth of the sun or even seen a bright and sunny day. A single fear lived within the minds and hearts of every soldier on both sides of the battlefield as they sat freezing in their mud and rat filled trenches: when would they take that deadly charge across no man's land?

"Father might have made the biggest mistake doing this," General Schnee, now Colonel Jonathan Schnee thanks to a demotion after the massacre a few months back, muttered to himself from the passenger seat of the covered jeep as he looked back at the passenger riding in the back.

"Oh? But wasn't it you that said 'It was the Schnee Dust Company's duty to show our support, so I'm joining to fight' ?" a well known son to the infamous Jacques Schnee said with a hint of arrogance to his older brother.

"Whitley, did father even hear any of my messages? I told him that sending you to my regiment was a horrible idea," Jonathan snapped in anger at his younger brother, who wore the uniform of a Vale Militia infantryman (US Army WW2 infantryman uniform) and was armed with an M1 Carbine. His uniform was clean and neatly pressed and well insulated to keep rain out and his body warm along with his gear being brand new and fully stocked. Jonathan's uniform was slightly dirtier and more faded than his younger brother's uniform by comparison, but still put off a level of authority.

"Father said that you'd put me near the back with the gear, and you wouldn't want to go against father's word," Whitley said in a condescending tone that made even the driver of the jeep glance over to Jonathan with a look of 'Is this kid serious?'. Col Jonathan Schnee could only sigh in defeat as he sat back in his seat and waited for the jeep to take them to where his regiment was stationed, where he'd figure out exactly where to put his annoying younger brother. He could put his brother in charge of ammunition storage and distribution, but Whitley had never done a serious day of any manual work in his life. A small smile crept across his face when he thought about putting Whitley on latrine duty, but their father would have his head if he figured out he made his younger brother do such a demeaning task. Jonathan already had people in charge of paperwork and getting on the radio to contact Command in case of any updates to orders or new orders. He was brought back into reality and out of his thoughts when the jeep hit a patch of mud and caused it to skid and swerve for a moment before straightening out and continuing on the road. Jonathan thought nothing of it, but Whitley was nearly hysterical in the backseat and was quick to make this known.

"Even a complete moron knows how to drive a vehicle as rundown as this! It's embarrassing for someone such as I to even be seen in such a thing," Whitley griped from the backseat, making the driver groan in anger to himself for a moment before sighing loudly in relief when he spotted their destination ahead. It looked to be a roadblock comprised of two mounted Browning .30 machine gun positions surrounded by sandbags, one on each side of the road, and five men in each position armed with M1 Garands. The soldiers of the Vale Militia still wore the same uniform and gear of the US Army infantry during WW2 along with army green trench coats to protect themselves from the freezing wind and rain. The men at the machine gun positions quickly noticed the approaching jeep as one of the men stepped out from the machine gun position and walk to the center of the muddy road to stop the approaching jeep.

"What's going on? This cannot be the Vale Militia's trench," Whitley said as he looked past the roadblock and noticed a lack of soldiers or defensive trenches.

"No, that would be about five miles that way," the jeep driver said with a smirk as he relished in the thought of the spoiled brat having to trudge through the mud. Before Whitley could react to the news, Jonathan grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and yanked him out of the vehicle. The minute Whitley's boots touched the mud, he slipped and fell flat onto his back into a puddle. The driver, the men in the machine gun positions, and even Jonathan couldn't help but laugh at this while Whitely quickly stumbled back onto his feet with his face red with both anger and embarrassment.

"Good to see you, Colonel," the soldier standing in the center of the road said with a salute after he finished laughing at Whitely's accident.

"At ease, soldier, I'm here to drop off my younger brother before heading back," Jonathan said as he gestured to Whitley, who was trying to brush the mud off his gear and his uniform.

"Kid, you'd stick out like a sore thumb in that trench with that clean uniform. I say work on the front," the soldier said as he gestured for Whitley to follow him. The young Schnee glanced back at his older brother, who couldn't help but feel nothing but worry for his younger brother.

"Who'll I be assigned to?" Whitley stuttered, the sense of pride and cockiness that he once had in the jeep completely faded away when he saw the soldiers covered in mud and looking as if they'd seen horrors beyond his very comprehension.

"Don't worry, son, your brother has you with a legend. You'll be just fine," the soldier said as he and Whitley began the long trudge through the mud towards the Vale Militia trenches.

"Who might that be?" Whitley asked.

"Lt. Chris Nikos and his platoon, the Hellfighters," the soldier said as he reached into his pocket and produced a patch for Whitley to put on his uniform shoulder. The patch had an angry skull smoking a stogie and wearing a green beret, an eyepatch over the left eye, and what looked like the skull having metal teeth.

A spitting image of the leader of the platoon, wouldn't you agree?


End file.
